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Forgotten  Books  of  the  American  Nursery 


The  DevU  and  the  'Disobedient  Child 


FORGOTTEN  BOOKS 

OF 

THE  AMERICAN  NURSERY 

A  History  of  the  Development  of 
the  American  Story-Book 

BY 

ROSALIE  V.  HALSEY 


BOSTON 

Charles  E.  Goodspeed  iS  Co. 


1911 


Copyright^  igii^  hy  C,  E,  Goodspeed  &  Co, 

• 
Of  this  hook  seven  hundred  copies  were  printed  in  November 
igii^  hy  D.  B,  Updike,  at  ^he  Merrymount  Press,  Boston 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.    Introdu£iory  3 

II.    The  Play-Book  in  England  SS 

III.  J^ewbery's  Books  in  America  59 

IV.  Patriotic  Printers  and  the  American  Newbery  89 

V.    The  Child  and  his  Book  at  the  End  of  the 

Eighteenth  Century  121 

VI.    Toy-Books  in  the  early  Nineteenth  Century  147 

VII.    American  Writers  and  English  Critics  191 

Index  233 


2i=^ni  RA 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

The  Devil  and  the  Disobedient  Child  Frontispiece 

From  "The  Prodigal  Daughter."  Sold  at  the  Printing  Office,  No.  5, 
Cornhill,  Boston.  [J.  and  J.  Fleet,  1789?]  ^^^. 

Page 

The  Devil  appears  as  a  French  Gentleman  26 

From  "The  Prodigal  Daughter.''  Sold  at  the  Printing  Office,  No.  5, 
Cornhill,  Boston.  [J.  and  J.  Fleet,  1789?] 

Title-page  from  ''The  Child*  s  New  Play-thing"       44 

Printed  by  J.  Draper;  J.  Edwards  in  Boston  [1750].  Now  in  the 
New  York  Public  Library,  Astor,  Lenox,  and  Tilden  Foundations 

Title-page  from  ''A  Little  Pretty  Pocket-Book*'       47 

Printed  by  Isaiah  Thomas,  Worcester,  mdcclxxxvii.  Now  in  the 
New  York  Public  Library,  Astor,  Lenox,  and  Tilden  Foundations 

A  page  from  "^  Little  Pretty  Pocket-Book"  49 

Printed  by  Isaiah  Thomas,  Worcester,  mdcclxxxvii.  Now  in  the 
New  York  Public  Library,  Astor,  Lenox,  and  Tilden  Foundations 

John  Newbery's  Advertisement  of  Children  s  Books     60 

From  the  "Pennsylvania  Gazette"  of  November  15,  1750 

Title-page  of  "  The  New  Gift  for  Children  "  70 

Prmted  by  Zechariah  Fowle,  Boston,  1762.  Now  in  the  Library  of 
the  Historical  Society  of  Pennsylvania 

Miss  Fanny's  Maid  74 

Illustration  from  "The  New  Gift  for  Children,"  printed  by  Zecha- 
riah Fowle,  Boston,  1762.  Now  in  the  Library  of  the  Historical 
Society  of  Pennsylvania 

A  page  from  a   Catalogue  of  Children's  Books 
printed  by  Isaiah  Thomas  106 

From  "The  Pidlure  Exhibition,"  Worcester,  mdcclxxxviii 

[  vii] 


Illustrations 

Illustration  of  Riddle  XIV  no 

From  "The  Puzzling- Cap,"  printed  by  John  Adams,  Philadelphia, 
1805 

Frontispiece  from  ''The  History  of  Little  Goody 
Two-Shoes'*  117 

From  one  of  The  First  Worcester  Edition,  prmted  by  Isaiah  Thomas 
in  MDccLxxxvii.  Now  in  the  Library  of  the  Historical  Society  of 
Pennsylvania 

Sir  Walter  Raleigh  and  his  Man  125 

Copper-plate  illustration  from  "Little  Truths,"  prmted  in  Philadel- 
phia by  J.  and  J.  Crukshank  in  1800 

Foot  Ball  126 

Copper-plate  illustration  from  "Youthful  Recreations,**  prmted  in 
Philadelphia  by  Jacob  Johnson  about  1802 

Jacob  Johnson  s  Book-Store  in  Philadelphia  about 
1800  155 

A  Wall-paper  Book-Cover  165 

From  "Lessons  for  Children  from  Four  to  Five  Years  Old,"  printed 
in  Wilmington  (Delaw^are)  by  Peter  Brynberg  in  1804 

Tom  the  Piper  s  Son  1 70 

Illustration  and  text  engraved  on  copper  by  William  Charles,  of  Phila- 
delphia, in  1808 

A  Kind  and  Good  Father  1 72 

Woodcut  by  Alexander  Anderson  for  "The  Prize  for  Youthful 
Obedience,"  printed  in  Philadelphia  by  Jacob  Johnson  in  1807 

A  Virginian  174 

Illustration  from  "People  of  all  Nations,"  printed  in  Philadelphia  by 
Jacob  Johnson  in  1807 


[   vi"  ] 


Illustrations 

A  Baboon  1 74 

Illustration  from  **A  Familiar  Description  of  Beasts  and  Birds,** 
printed  in  Boston  by  Lincoln  and  Edmands  in  1 8 1 3 

Drest  or  Undrest  176 

Illustration  from  **The  Daisy,'*  published  by  Jacob  Johnson  in  1808 

Little  Nancy  182 

Probably  engraved  by  William  Charles  for  "Little  Nancy,  or,  the 
Punishment  of  Greediness,**  published  in  Philadelphia  by  Morgan  & 
Yeager  about  1830 

Children  of  the  Cottage  1 96 

Engraved  by  Joseph  I.  Pease  for  **The  Youth's  Sketch  Book,**  pub- 
lished in  Boston  by  Lilly,  Wait  and  Company  in  1834 

Henrietta  200 

Engraved  by  Thomas  Illman  for  **The  American  Juvenile  Keep- 
sake,'* published  in  Brockville,  U.  C,  by  Horace  Billings  &  Co.  in 
1835 

A  Child  and  her  Doll  206 

Illustration  from  "Little  Mary,**  Part  II,  published  in  Boston  by 
Cottons  and  Barnard  in  183 1 

The  Little  Runaway  227 

Drawn  and  engraved  by  J.  W.  Steel  for  "AfFe6lion*s  Gift,**  pub- 
lished in  New  York  by  J.  C.  Riker  in  1832 


CHAPTER  I 

IntroduSlory 


'  4 


Thy  life  to  mend 
This  hook  attend. 

The  Nenv  England  Tutor 

London  (1702-14) 

To  be  brought  up  in  fear 
And  learn  ABC. 

F ox  E ,  Book  of  Martyrs 


Forgotten  Booh  of  the  American  Nursery 

CHAPTER  I 

Introdudtory 

A  SHELF  full  of  books  belonging  to  the  American 
.  children  of  colonial  times  and  of  the  early  days  of  the 
Republic  presents  a  strangely  unfamiliar  and  curious  appear- 
ance. If  chronologically  placed,  the  earliest  coverless  chap- 
books  are  hardly  noticeable  next  to  their  immediate  suc- 
cessors with  wooden  sides;  and  these,  in  turn,  are  dominated 
by  the  gilt,  silver,  and  many  colored  bindings  of  diminutive 
dimensions  which  hold  the  stories  dear  to  the  childish  heart 
from  Revolutionary  days  to  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  Then  bright  blue,  salmon,  yellow,  and  marbled  paper 
covers  make  a  vivid  display  which,  as  the  century  grows  older, 
fades  into  the  sad-colored  cloth  bindings  thought  adapted  to 
many  children's  books  of  its  second  quarter. 

An  examination  of  their  contents  shows  them  to  be  equally 
foreign  to  present  day  ideas  as  to  the  desirable  charaderistics 
for  children's  literature.  Yet  the  crooked  black  type  and  crude 
illustrations  of  the  wholly  religious  episodes  related  in  the 
oldest  volumes  on  the  shelf,  the  didadic  and  moral  stories 
with  their  tiny  type-metal,  wood,  and  copper-plate  pidures  of 
the  next  groups;  and  the  "  improving"  American  tales  adorned 
with  blurred  colored  engravings,  or  stiff  steel  and  wood  illus- 
trations, that  were  produced  for  juvenile  amusement  in  the 
early  part  of  the  nineteenth  century,  —  all  are  as  interesting 

[3] 


J'  f '  !>:'.' ':   '■  Forgotten  Books  of  the 

to  the  lover  of  children  as  they  are  unattradive  to  the  modem 
children  themselves.  The  little  ones  very  naturally  find  the 
stilted  language  of  these  old  stories  unintelligible  and  the 
artificial  plots  bewildering;  but  to  one  interested  in  the  adult 
literature  of  the  same  periods  of  history  an  acquaintance  with 
these  amusement  books  of  past  generations  has  a  peculiar 
charm  and  value  of  its  own.  They  then  become  not  merely  curi- 
osities, but  the  means  of  tracing  the  evolution  of  an  American 
literature  for  children. 

To  the  student  desiring  an  intimate  acquaintance  with  any 
civilized  people,  its  lighter  literature  is  always  a  great  aid  to 
personal  research;  the  more  trivial,  the  more  detailed,  the 
greater  the  worth  to  the  investigator  are  these  pen-pidures 
as  records  of  the  nation  he  wishes  to  know.  Something  of  this 
value  have  the  story-books  of  old-fashioned  childhood.  Trivial 
as  they  undoubtedly  are,  they  nevertheless  often  contain  our 
best  sketches  of  child-life  in  the  eighteenth  and  early  nine- 
teenth centuries, — a  life  as  different  from  that  of  a  twentieth 
century  child  as  was  the  adult  society  of  those  old  days  from 
that  of  the  present  time.  They  also  enable  us  to  mark  as  is 
possible  in  no  other  way,  the  gradual  development  of  a  body 
of  writing  which,  though  lagging  much  behind  the  adult 
literature,  was  yet  also  afFeded  by  the  local  and  social  condi- 
tions in  America. 

Without  attempting  to  give  the  history  of  the  evolution 
of  the  ABC  book  in  England — the  legitimate  ancestor 
of  all  juvenile  books — two  main  topics  must  be  briefly  dis- 
cussed before  entering  upon  the  proper  matter  of  this  volume. 
The  first  relates  to  the  family  life  in  the  early  days  of  the 

[4] 


American  Nursery 

Massachusetts  Commonwealth,  the  province  that  produced 
the  first  juvenile  book.  The  second  topic  has  to  do  with  the 
literature  thought  suitable  for  children  in  those  early  Puritan 
days.  These  two  subjeds  are  closely  related,  the  second  being 
dependent  upon  the  first.  Both  are  necessary  to  the  history 
of  these  quaint  toy  volumes,  whose  stories  lack  much  mean- 
ing unless  the  conditions  of  life  and  literature  preceding  them 
are  understood. 

When  the  Pilgrim  Fathers,  seeking  freedom  of  faith, 
founded  their  first  settlements  in  the  new  country,  one  of  their 
earliest  efforts  was  direded  toward  firmly  establishing  their 
own  religion.  This,  though  nominally  free,  was  eventually, 
under  the  Mathers,  to  become  a  theocracy  as  intolerant  as  that 
faith  from  which  they  had  fled.  The  rocks  upon  which  this 
religion  was  builded  were  the  Bible  and  the  Catechism.  In  this 
history  of  toy-books  the  catechism  is,  however,  perhaps  almost 
the  more  important  to  consider,  for  it  was  a  produd  of  the 
times,  and  regarded  as  indispensable  to  the  proper  training 
of  a  family. 

The  Puritan  conception  of  life,  as  an  error  to  be  redified 
by  suffering  rather  than  as  a  joy  to  be  accepted  with  thanks- 
giving, made  the  preparation  for  death  and  the  dreadful  Day 
of  Judgment  the  chief  end  of  existence.  The  catechism, 
therefore,  with  its  fear-inspiring  description  of  Hell  and  the 
consequences  of  sin,  became  inevitably  the  chief  means  of 
instruding  children  in  the  knowledge  of  their  sinful  inherit- 
ance. In  order  to  insure  a  supply  of  catechisms,  it  was  voted 
by  the  members  of  the  company  in  sixteen  hundred  and 
twenty-nine,  when  preparing  to  emigrate,  to  expend  "3  shil- 

[5] 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

lings  for  2  dussen  and  ten  catechismes."  *  A  contrad  was  also 
made  in  the  same  year  with  "sundry  intended  ministers  for 
catechising,  as  also  in  teaching,  or  causing  to  be  taught  the 
Companyes  servants  &  their  children,  as  also  the  salvages  and 
their  children."  f  Parents,  especially  the  mothers,  were  contin- 
ually exhorted  in  sermons  preached  for  a  century  after  the 
founding  of  the  colony,  to  catechize  the  children  every  day, 
"that,"  said  Cotton  Mather,  "you  may  be  continually  drop- 
ping something  of  the  Catechism  upon  them :  Some  Honey 
out  of  the  Rock"!  Indeed,  the  learned  divine  seems  to  have 
regarded  it  as  a  soothing  and  toothsome  morsel,  for  he  even 
imagined  that  the  children  cried  for  it  continuously,  saying : 
"  0  our  dear  Parents,  Acquaint  us  with  the  Great  God,  .  .  .  het  us 
not  go  from  your  lender  Knees,  down  to  the  Place  of  Dragons, 
Oh!  not  Parents,  but  Ostriches:  Not  Parents,  but  Prodigies  "% 

Much  dissension  soon  arose  among  the  ministers  of  the 
settlements  as  to  which  catechism  should  be  taught.  As  the 
result  of  the  discussion  the  "  General  Corte,"  which  met  in 
sixteen  hundred  and  forty-one,  "  desired  that  the  elders  would 
make  a  catechism  for  the  instruction  of  youth  in  the  grounds  of 
religion  r  § 

To  meet  this  request,  several  clergymen  immediately  re- 
sponded. Among  them  was  John  Cotton,  who  presumably 
prepared  a  small  volume  which  was  entitled  "  Milk  for  Babes, 
Drawn  out  of  the  Breast  of  Both  Testaments.  Chiefly  for  the 
spiritual  nourishment  of  Boston  Babes  in  either  England :  But 
may  be  of  like  use  for  any  children."  For  the  present  purpose 

*  Records  of  Mass.  Bay,  vol.  i,  p.  37  h.  f  Ibid.,  vol.  i,  p.  376. 

X  Ford,  The  New  England  Primer,  p.  83.  §  Records  of  Mass.  Bay,  vol.  i,  p.  328. 

[6] 


American  Nursery 

the  importance  of  this  little  book  lies  in  the  supposition  that 
it  was  printed  at  Cambridge,  by  Daye,  between  sixteen  hun- 
dred and  forty-one  and  sixteen  hundred  and  forty-five,  and 
therefore  was  the  first  book  of  any  kind  written  and  printed 
in  America  for  children;  —  an  importance  altogether  different 
from  that  attached  to  it  by  the  author's  grandson,  Cotton 
Mather,  when  he  asserted  that  "Milk  for  Babes"  would  be 
"valued  and  studied  and  improved  till  New  England  cease 
to  be  New  England."* 

To  the  little  colonials  this  "Catechism  of  New  England" 
was  a  great  improvement  upon  any  predecessor,  even  upon 
the  Westminster  Shorter  Catechism,  for  it  reduced  the  one 
hundred  and  seven  questions  of  that  famous  body  of  dodrine 
to  sixty-seven,  and  the  longest  answer  in  "Milk  for  Babes" 
contained  only  eighty-four  words.f 

As  the  century  grew  older  other  catechisms  were  printed. 
The  number  produced  before  the  eighteenth  century  bears 
witness  to  the  diverse  views  in  a  community  in  which  they 
were  considered  an  essential  for  every  member,  adult  or  child. 
Among  the  six  hundred  titles  roughly  computed  as  the  out- 
put of  the  press  by  seventeen  hundred  in  the  new  country, 
eleven  different  catechisms  may  be  counted,  with  twenty  edi- 
tions in  all;  of  these  the  titles  of  four  indicate  that  they  were 
designed  for  very  little  children.  In  each  community  the  pas- 
tor appointed  the  catechism  to  be  taught  in  the  school,  and 
joined  the  teacher  in  drilling  the  children  in  its  questions  and 
answers.  Indeed,  the  answers  were  regarded  as  irrefutable  in 
those  uncritical  days,  and  hence  a  strong  shield  and  buckler 

*  Ford,  The  Neiu  England  Primer^  p.  92.  j-  Ibid, 

[7] 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

against  manifold  temptations  provided  by  "yt  ould  deluder 
Satan."  To  offset  the  task  of  learning  these  dodrines  of  the 
church,  it  is  probable  that  the  mothers  regaled  the  little  ones 
with  old  folk-lore  tales  when  the  family  gathered  together 
around  the  great  living-room  fire  in  the  winter  evening,  or 
asked  eagerly  for  a  bedtime  story  in  the  long  summer  twi- 
light. Tales  such  as  "Jack  the  Giant  Killer,"  "  Tom  Thumb," 
the  "Children  in  the  Wood,"  and  "Guy  of  Warwick,"  were 
orally  current  even  among  the  plain  people  of  England,  though 
frowned  upon  by  many  of  the  Puritan  element.  Therefore  it 
is  at  least  presumable  that  these  were  all  familiar  to  the  colo- 
nists. In  fad,  it  is  known  that  John  Dunton,  in  sixteen  hun- 
dred and  eighty-six,  sold  in  his  Boston  warehouse  "  The  His- 
tory of  Tom  Thumb,"  which  he  facetiously  offered  to  an  igno- 
rant customer  "in  folio  with  Marginal  notes."  Besides  these 
orally  related  tales  of  enchantment,  the  children  had  a  few 
simple  pastimes,  but  at  first  the  few  toys  were  necessarily  of 
home  manufadure.  On  the  whole,  amusements  were  not  en- 
couraged, although  "  In  the  year  sixteen  hundred  and  ninety- 
five  Mr.  Higginson,"  writes  Mrs.  Earle,  "wrote  from  Massa- 
chusetts to  his  brother  in  England,  that  if  toys  were  imported 
in  small  quantity  to  America,  they  would  sell."  And  a  ven- 
ture of  this  charader  was  certainly  made  by  seventeen  hun- 
dred and  twelve  in  Boston.  Still,  these  were  the  exception  in 
a  commonwealth  where  amusements  were  considered  as  wiles 
of  the  Devil,  against  whom  the  ministers  constantly  warned 
the  congregations  committed  to  their  charge. 

Home  in  the  seventeenth  century — and  indeed  in  the  eight- 
eenth century — was  a  place  where  for  children  the  rule  "to 

[8] 


^y 


American  Nursery 

be  seen,  not  heard,"  was  stridly  enforced.  To  read  Judge 
Sewall's  diary  is  to  be  convinced  that  for  children  to  obtain 
any  importance  in  life,  death  was  necessary.  Funerals  of  little 
ones  were  of  frequent  occurrence,  and  were  conduded  with 
great  ceremony,  in  which  pomp  and  meagre  preparation  were 
strangely  mingled.  Baby  Henry  Sewall's  funeral  procession, 
for  instance,  included  eight  ministers,  the  governor  and  mag- 
istrates of  the  county,  and  two  nurses  who  bore  the  little 
body  to  the  grave,  into  which,  half  full  of  water  from  the  rag- 
ing storm,  the  rude  coffin  was  lowered.  Death  was  kept  before 
the  eyes  of  every  member  of  the  colony;  even  two-year-old 
babies  learned  such  mournful  verse  as  this: 

"I,  in  the  Burying  Place  may  See 
Graves  Shorter  than  I; 
From  Death's  Arreft  no  age  is  free 
Young  Children  too  may  die; 
My  God,  may  such  an  awful  Sight 
Awakening  be  to  me! 
Oh!  that  by  Grace  I  might 
For  Death  prepared  be.". 

When  the  younger  members  of  the  family  are  otherwise  men- 
tioned in  the  Judge's  diary,  it  is  perhaps  to  note  the  parents' 
pride  in  the  eigh teen-months-old  infant's  knowledge  of  the 
catechism,  an  acquirement  rewarded  by  the  gift  of  a  red  apple, 
but  which  suggests  the  reason  for  many  funerals.  Or,  again, 
difficulties  with  the  alphabet  are  sorrowfully  put  down;  and 
also  delinquencies  at  the  age  of  four  in  attending  family  prayer, 
with  a  full  account  of  punishments  meted  out  to  the  culprit. 
Such  details  are,  indeed,  but  natural,  for  under  the  stem  con- 
ditions imposed  by  Cotton  and  the  Mathers,  religion  looms 

[9] 


\i 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

large  in  the  foreground  of  any  sketch  of  family  life  handed 
down  from  the  first  century  of  the  Massachusetts  colony.  Per- 
haps the  very  earliest  pidure  in  which  a  colonial  child  with 
a  book  occupies  the  centre  of  the  canvas  is  that  given  in  a 
letter  of  Samuel  Sewall's.  In  sixteen  hundred  and  seventy-one 
he  wrote  with  pride  to  a  friend  of  "little  Betty,  who  though 
Reading  passing  well,  took  Three  Moneths  to  Read  the  first 
Volume  of  the  Book  of  Martyrs"  as  she  sat  by  the  fire-light  at 
night  after  her  daily  task  of  spinning  was  done.  Foxe's  "Mar- 
tyrs" seems  gruesome  reading  for  a  little  girl  at  bedtime,  but 
it  was  so  popular  in  England  that,  with  the  Bible  and  Cate- 
chism, it  was  included  in  the  library  of  all  households  that 
could  afford  it. 

Just  ten  years  later,  in  sixteen  hundred  and  eighty-one,  Bun- 
yan's  "Pilgrim's  Progress"  was  printed  in  Boston  by  Samuel 
Green,  and,  being  easily  obtainable,  superseded  in  a  measure  the 
"Book  of  Martyrs  "as  a  household  treasure.  Bunyan's  dream, 
according  to  Macaulay,  was  the  daily  conversation  of  thou- 
sands, and  was  received  in  New  England  with  far  greater  eager- 
ness than  in  the  author's  own  country.  The  children  undoubt- 
edly listened  to  the  talk  of  their  elders  and  gazed  with  wide- 
open  eyes  at  the  execrable  plates  in  the  imported  editions 
illustrating  Christian's  journey.  After  the  deaths  by  fire  and 
sword  of  the  Martyrs,  the  Pilgrim's  difficulties  in  the  Slough 
of  Despond,  or  with  the  Giant  Despair,  afforded  pleasurable 
reading;  while  Mr.  Great  Heart's  courageous  cheerfulness 
brought  pradically  a  new  charaderistic  into  Puritan  litera- 
ture. 

To  Bunyan  the  children  in  both  old  and  New  England 

[  i°] 


American  Nursery 

were  indebted  for  another  book,  entitled  "A  Book  for  Boys 
and  Girls:  or,  Country  Rhimes  for  Children.  By  J.  B.  Licenfed 
and  Entered  according  to  Order." "^^  Printed  in  London,  it 
probably  soon  made  its  way  to  this  country,  where  Bunyan 
was  already  so  well  known.  "This  little  odavo  volume,"  writes 
Mrs.  Field  in  "The  Child  and  his  Book,"  "was  considered  a 
perfed  child's  book,  but  was  in  fad  only  the  literary  milk  of 
the  unfortunate  babes  of  the  period."  In  the  light  of  modem 
views  upon  juvenile  reading  and  entertainment,  the  Puritan 
ideal  of  mental  pabulum  for  little  ones  is  worth  recording  in 
an  extrad  from  the  preface.  The  following  lines  set  forth  this 
author's  three-fold  purpose: 

"  To  show  them  how  each  Fingle-fangle, 
On  which  they  doting  are,  their  souls  entangle, 
As  with  a  Web,  a  Trap,  a  Gin,  or  Snare. 
While  by  their  Play-things,  I  would  them  entice, 
To  mount  their  Thoughts  from  what  are  childifh  Toys 
To  Heaven  for  that 's  prepared  for  Girls  and  Boys. 
Nor  do  I  so  confine  myself  to  thefe 
As  to  shun  graver  things,  I  seek  to  pleafe, 
Thofe  more  compoPd  with  better  things  than  Toys : 
Tho  thus  I  would  be  catching  Girls  and  Boys." 

In  the  seventy-four  Meditations  composing  this  curious  med- 
ley— "tho  but  in  Homely  Rhimes" — upon  subjeds  familiar 
to  any  little  girl  or  boy,  none  leaves  the  moral  to  the  imagina- 
tion. Nevertheless,  it  could  well  have  been  a  relaxation,  after 
the  daily  drill  in  "  A  B  abs"  and  catechism,  to  turn  the  leaves 
and  to  spell  out  this: 


*  In  the  possession  of  the  British  Museum. 

[  "  ] 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

Upon  the  Frog 

O"       The  Frog  by  nature  is  both  damp  and  cold, 
Her  mouth  is  large,  her  belly  much  will  hold. 
She  sits  somewhat  afcending,  loves  to  be 
Croaking  in  gardens  tho'  unpleafantly. 

Comparifon 
The  hypocrite  is  like  unto  this  frog; 
As  like  as  is  the  Puppy  to  the  Dog. 
He  is  of  nature  cold,  his  mouth  is  wide 
To  prate,  and  at  true  Goodnefs  to  deride.  A 

Doubtless,  too,  many  little  Puritans  quite  envied  the  child  in 
"  The  Boy  and  the  Watchmaker,"  a  jingle  wherein  the  former 
said,  among  other  things : 

"This  Watch  my  Father  did  on  me  beftow 
A  Golden  one  it  is,  but  *t  will  not  go, 
Unlefs  it  be  at  an  Uncertainty; 
I  think  there  is  no  watch  as  bad  as  mine. 
Sometimes  't  is  sullen,  't  will  not  go  at  all. 
And  yet  't  was  never  broke,  nor  had  a  fall." 

The  same  small  boys  may  even  have  enjoyed  the  tedious 
explanation  of  the  mechanism  of  the  time-piece  given  by  the 
IVatchmaker^  and  after  skipping  the  "Comparison"  (which 
made  the  boy  represent  a  convert  and  the  watch  in  his  pocket 
illustrative  of  "Grace  within  his  Heart"),  they  probably  turned 
eagerly  to  the  next  Meditation  Upon  the  Boy  and  Ms  Paper  of 
Plumbs,  Weather-cocks,  Hobby-horses,  Horses,  and  Drums, 
all  served  Bunyan  in  his  effort  "to  point  a  moral"  while  adorn- 
ing his  tales. 

In  a  later  edition  of  these  grotesque  and  quaint  conceptions, 
some  alterations  were  made  and  a  primer  was  included.  It  then 

[  12  ] 


American   "Nursery 

appeared  as  "  A  Book  for  Boys  and  Girls ;  or  Temporal  Things 
Spiritualized; "  and  by  the  time  the  ninth  edition  was  reached, 
in  seventeen  hundred  and  twenty-four,  the  book  was  hardly 
recognizable  as  "Divine  Emblems;  or  Temporal  Things 
Spiritualized." 

At  present  there  is  no  evidence  that  these  rhymes  were 
printed  in  the  colonies  until  long  after  this  ninth  edition  was 
issued.  It  is  possible  that  the  success  attending  a  book  printed 
in  Boston  shortly  after  the  original  "Country  Rhimes"  was 
written,  made  the  colonial  printers  feel  that  their  profit  would 
be  greater  by  devoting  spare  type  and  paper  to  the  now  fa- 
mous "New  England  Primer."  Moreover,  it  seems  peculiarly 
in  keeping  with  the  cast  of  the  New  England  mind  of  the 
eighteenth  century  that  although  Bunyan  had  attempted  to 
combine  play-things  with  religious  teaching  for  the  English 
children,  for  the  little  colonials  the  first  combination  was  the 
elementary  teaching  and  religious  exercises  found  in  the  great 
"Puritan  Primer."  Each  child  was  pradically,  if  not  verbally, 
told  that 

"  This  little  Catechism  learned  by  heart  (for  so  it  ought) 
The  Primer  next  commanded  is  for  Children  to  be  taught." 

The  Primer,  however,  was  not  a  produd  wholly  of  New 
England.  In  sixteen  hundred  and  eighty-five  there  had  been 
printed  in  Boston  by  Green,  "The  Protestant  Tutor  for 
Children,"  a  primer,  a  mutilated  copy  of  which  is  now  owned 
by  the  American  Antiquarian  Society.  "  This,"  again  to  quote 
Mr.  Ford,  "was  probably  an  abridged  edition  of  a  book  bearing 
the  same  title,  printed  in  London,  with  the  expressed  design 
of  bringing  up  children  in  an  aversion  to  Popery."  In  Protes- 

[  13  ] 


I 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

tant  New  England  the  author's  purpose  naturally  called  forth 
profound  approbation,  and  in  "Green's  edition  of  the  Tutor 
lay  the  germ  of  the  great  pidure  alphabet  of  our  fore-fathers."* 
The  author,  Benjamin  Harris,  had  immigrated  to  Boston  for 
personal  reasons,  and  coming  in  contad  with  the  residents, 
saw  the  latent  possibilities  in  "The  Protestant  Tutor."  "To 
make  it  more  salable,"  writes  Mr.  Ford  in  "The  New  England 
Primer,"  "the  school-book  charader  was  increased,  while  to 
give  it  an  even  better  chance  of  success  by  an  appeal  to  local 
pride  it  was  rechristened  and  came  forth  under  the  now  famous 
title  of 'The  New  England  Primer.' "f 

A  careful  examination  of  the  titles  contained  in  the  first 
volume  of  Evans's  "American  Bibliography"  shows  how  ex- 
adly  this  infant's  primer  represented  the  spirit  of  the  times. 
This  chronological  list  of  American  imprints  of  the  first  one 
hundred  years  of  the  colonial  press  is  largely  a  record  in  type 
of  the  religious  adivity  of  the  country,  and  is  impressive  as  a 
witness  to  the  obedience  of  the  press  to  the  law  of  supply  and 
demand.  With  the  Puritan  appetite  for  a  grim  religion  served 
in  sermons  upon  every  subjed,  ornamented  and  seasoned  with 
supposedly  apt  Scriptural  quotations,  a  demand  was  created 
for  printed  discourses  to  be  read  and  inwardly  digested  at  home. 
This  demand  the  printers  supplied.  Amid  such  literary  condi- 
tions the  primer  came  as  light  food  for  infants'  minds,  and  as 
such  was  accepted  by  parents  to  impress  religious  ideas  when 
teaching  the  alphabet. 

It  is  not  by  any  means  certain  that  the  first  edition  of  this 
great  primer  of  our  ancestors  contained  illustrations,  as  en- 

*  Ford,  T:he  Nenv  England  Primer,  p.  38.  f  Ibid. 

[  H] 


American  Nursery 

gravers  were  few  in  America  before  the  eighteenth  century. 
Yet  it  seems  altogether  probable  that  they  were  introduced 
early  in  the  next  century,  as  by  seventeen  hundred  and  seven- 
teen Benjamin  Harris,  Jr.,  had  printed  in  Boston  "The  Holy 
Bible  in  Verse,"  containing  cuts  identical  with  those  in  "The 
New  England  Primer"  of  a  somewhat  later  date,  and  these 
pidures  could  well  have  served  as  illustrations  for  both  these 
books  for  children's  use,  profit,  and  pleasure.  At  all  events,  the 
thorough  approval  by  parents  and  clergy  of  this  small  school- 
book  soon  brought  to  many  a  household  the  novelty  of  a  real 
pidure-book. 

Hitherto  little  children  had  been  perforce  content  with  the 
few  illustrations  the  adult  books  afforded.  Now  the  printing 
of  this  tiny  volume,  with  its  curious  black  pidures  accompany- 
ing the  text  of  religious  instrudion,  catechism,  and  alphabets, 
marked  a  milestone  on  the  long  lane  that  eventually  led  to 
the  well-drawn  pidures  in  the  modem  books  for  children. 

It  is  difficult  at  so  late  a  day  to  estimate  corredly  the 
pleasure  this  famous  pidure  alphabet  brought  to  the  various 
colonial  households.  What  the  original  illustrations  were  like 
can  only  be  inferred  from  those  in  "  The  Holy  Bible  in  Verse," 
amd  in  later  editions  of  the  primer  itself  In  the  Bible  Adam  (or 
is  it  Eve*?)  stands  pointing  to  a  tree  around  which  a  serpent  is 
coiled.  By  seventeen  hundred  and  thirty-seven  the  engraver 
was  sufficiently  skilled  to  represent  two  figures,  who  stand 
as  colossal  statues  on  either  side  of  the  tree  whose  fruit  had 
had  such  disastrous  effeds.  However,  at  a  time  when  art  crit- 
icism had  no  terrors  for  the  engraver,  it  could  well  have  been 
a  delight  to  many  a  family  of  little  ones  to  gaze  upon 

['5] 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

"The  Lion  bold 
The  Lamb  doth  hold" 

and  to  speculate  upon  the  exad  place  where  the  lion  ended 
and  the  lamb  began.  The  wholly  religious  charader  of  the 
book  was  no  drawback  to  its  popularity,  for  the  two  great 
diaries  of  the  time  show  how  absolutely  religion  permeated 
the  atmosphere  surrounding  both  old  and  young. 

Cotton  Mather's  diary  gives  various  glimpses  of  his  dealing 
with  his  own  and  other  people's  children.  His  son  Increase, 
or  "Cressy,"  as  he  was  afFedionately  called,  seems  to  have 
been  particularly  unresponsive  to  religious  coercion.  Mather's 
method,  however,  appears  to  have  been  more  efficacious  with 
the  younger  members  of  his  family,  and  of  Elizabeth  and 
Samuel  (seven  years  of  age)  he  wrote :  "  My  two  younger 
children  shall  before  the  Psalm  and  prayer  answer  a  Quses- 
tion  in  the  catechism;  and  have  their  Leaves  ready  turned 
unto  the  proofs  of  the  Answer  in  the  Bible ;  which  they  shall 
distindly  read  unto  us,  and  show  what  they  prove.  This  also 
shall  supply  a  fresh  matter  for  prayer."  Again  he  tells  of 
his  table  talk:  "Tho'  I  will  have  my  table  talk  facetious 
as  well  as  instrudive  .  .  .  yett  I  will  have  the  Exercise  con- 
tinually intermixed.  I  will  set  before  them  some  sentence 
of  the  Bible,  and  make  some  useful  Remarks  upon  it." 
Other  people's  children  he  taught  as  occasion  offered;  even 
when  "on  the  Road  in  the  Woods,"  he  wrote  on  another 
day,  "I,  being  desirous  to  do  some  Good,  called  some  little 
children . . .  and  bestowed  some  Instrudion  with  a  little  Book 
upon  them."  To  children  accustomed  to  instrudion  at  all 
hours,  the  amusement  found  in  the  pages  of  the  primer  was 

[  i6] 


J 


American  Nursery 

far  greater  than  in  any  other  book  printed  in  the  colonies  for 
years. 

Certain  titles  indicate  the  nature  of  the  meagre  juvenile 
literary  fare  in  the  beginning  of  the  new  eighteenth  century. 
In  seventeen  hundred  Nicholas  Boone,  in  his  "Shop  over 
against  the  old  Meeting-house"  in  Boston,  reprinted  Jane- 
way's  "  Token  for  Children."  To  this  was  added  by  the  Bos- 
ton printer  a  "  Token  for  the  children  of  New  England,  or 
some  examples  of  children  in  whom  the  fear  of  God  was 
remarkably  budding  when  they  dyed;  in  several  parts  of  New 
England."  Of  course  its  author,  the  Reverend  Mr.  Mather, 
found  colonial  "examples"  as  deeply  religious  as  any  that 
the  mother  country  could  produce;  but  there  is  for  us  a 
grim  humor  in  these  various  incidents  concerning  pious  and 
precocious  infants  "of  thin  habit  and  pale  countenance," 
whose  pallor  became  that  of^death  at  so  early  an  age.  If  it 
was  by  the  repetition  of  such  tales  that  the  Puritan  divine 
strove  to  convert  Cressy,  it  may  well  be  that  the  son  consid- 
ered it  better  policy,  since  Death  claimed  the  little  saints,  to 
remain  a  sinner. 

By  seventeen  hundred  and  sj:^  two  juvenile  books  appeared 
from  the  press  of  Timothy  Green  in  Boston.  The  first,  "A 
Little  Book  for  children  wherein  are  set  down  several  direc- 
tions for  little  children:  and  several  remarkable  stories  both 
ancient  and  modern  of  little  children,  divers  whereof  are  lately 
deceased,"  was  a  reprint  from  an  English  book  of  the  same 
title,  and  therefore  has  not  in  this  chronicle  the  interest  of 
the  second  book.  The  purpose  of  its  publication  is  given  in 
Mather's  diary: 

[17] 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

[1706]  22d.  Im.  Friday. 
About  this  Time  sending  my  little  son  to  School,  Where 
ye  Child  was  Learning  to  Read,  I  did  use  every  morning  for 
diverse  months,  to  Write  in  a  plain  Hand  for  the  Child,  and 
send  thither  by  him,  a  Lesson  in  Verse^  to  be  not  only  read^ 
but  also  Gott  by  Heart.  My  proposal  was  to  have  the  Child 
improve  in  goodness,  at  the  same  time  that  he  improved  in 
Reading.  Upon  further  Thoughts  I  apprehended  that  a  Col- 
ledion  of  some  of  them  would  be  serviceable  to  ye  Good 
Education  of  other  children.  So  I  lett  ye  printer  take  them 
&  print  them,  in  some  hope  of  some  Help  to  thereby  con- 
tributed unto  that  great  Intention  of  a  Good  Education.  The 
book  is  entituled  Good  Lessons  for  Children;  or  Instrudion  pro- 
vided for  a  little  Son  to  learn  at  School,  when  learning  to 
Read. 

Although  this  small  book  lives  only  by  record,  it  is  safe  to 
assume  from  the  extrads  of  the  author's  diary  already  quoted, 
that  it  lacked  every  quality  of  amusement,  and  was  adapted 
only  to  those  whom  he  described,  in  a  sermon  preached  be- 
fore the  Governor  and  Council,  as  "verie  Sharpe  and  early 
Ripe  in  their  capacities."  "Good  Lessons"  has  the  distinction 
of  being  the  first  American  book  to  be  composed,  like  many 
a  modern  publication,  for  a  particular  young  child;  and,  with 
its  purpose  "to  improve  in  goodness,"  struck  clearly  the  key- 
note of  the  greater  part  of  all  writing  for  children  during  the 
succeeding  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  years. 

The  first  glimpse  of  the  amusement  book  proper  appears 
in  that  unique  "History  of  Printing  in  America,"  by  Isaiah 

[  18] 


V 


American  Nursery 

Thomas.  This  describes,  among  other  old  printers,  one  Thomas 
Fleet,  who  established  himself  in  Boston  about  1713.  "At 
first,"  wrote  Mr.  Thomas,  "he  printed  pamphlets  for  book- 
sellers, small  books  for  children  and  ballads"  in  Pudding 
Lane.*  "He  owned  several  negroes,  one  of  which  .  .  .  was 
an  ingenious  man  and  cut  on  wooden  blocks  all  the  pidures 
which  decorated  the  ballads  and  small  books  for  his  master."  f 
!  As  corroborative  of  these  statements  Thomas  also  mentions 
i  Thomas  Fleet,  Sr.,as"the  putative  compiler  of  Mother  Goose 
Melodies,  which  he  first  published  in  1719,  bearing  the  title 
of 'Songs  for  the  Nursery.'" 

Much  discussion  has  arisen  as  to  the  earliest  edition  of 
Mother  Goose.  Thomas's  suggestion  as  to  the  origin  of  the  first 
American  edition  has  been  of  late  years  relegated  to  the  region 
of  myth.  Nevertheless,  there  is  something  to  be  said  in  favor 
of  the  existence  of  some  book  of  nonsense  at  that  time.  The 
Boston  "News  Letter"  for  April  12-19,  1739,  contained  a 
criticism  of  Tate  and  Brady's  version  of  the  Psalms,  in  which 
the  reviewer  wrote  that  in  Psalm  vi  the  translators  used  the 
phrase,  "a  wretch  forlorn."  He  added:  "(1)  There  is  nothing 
of  this  in  the  original  or  the  English  Psalter.  (2)  'T  is  a  low 
expression  and  to  add  a  low  one  is  the  less  allowable.  But 
(3)  what  I  am  most  concerned  for  is,  that  it  will  be  apt  to 
make  our  Children  think  of  the  line  in  their  vulgar  Play  song; 
much  like  it, '  This  is  the  maiden  all  forlorn.'"  We  recognize  at 
once  a  reference  to  our  nursery  friend  of  the  "  House  that  Jack 
Built;"  and  if  this  and  "Tom  Thumb"  were  sold  in  Boston, 
why  should  not  other  ditties  have  been  among  the  chap-books 

*  Thomas,  History  of  Printing  in  America^  vol.  iii,  p.  145.  \  Ibid.^  vol.  i,  p.  294. 

[  19  ] 


Forgotten  Booh  of  the 

which  Thomas  remembered  to  have  set  up  when  a  'prentice 
lad  in  the  printing-house  of  Zechariah  Fowle,  who  in  turn 
had  copied  some  issued  previously  by  Thomas  Fleet*?  In  fur- 
ther confirmation  of  Thomas's  statement  is  a  paragraph  in  the 
preface  to  an  edition  of  Mother  Goose,  published  in  Boston 
in  1833,  by  Monroe  &  Francis.  The  editor  traces  the  origin  of 
these  rhymes  to  a  London  book  entitled,  "Rhymes  for.  the 
Nursery  or  Lullabies  for  Children,"  "that,"  he  writes,  "con- 
tained many  of  the  identical  pieces  handed  down  to  us."  He 
continues:  "The  first  book  of  the  kind  known  to  be  printed 
in  this  country  hears  [the  italics  are  mine']  the  title,  'Songs  for 
the  Nursery:  or  Mother  Goose's  Melodies  for  Children.'  Something 
probably  intended  to  represent  a  goose,  with  a  very  long  neck 
and  mouth  wide  open,  covered  a  large  part  of  the  title-page; 
at  the  bottom  of  which  was :  'Printed  by  T.  Fleet,  at  his  print- 
ing house.  Pudding  Lane  (Boston)  1719.'  Several  pages  were 
missing,  so  that  the  whole  number  could  not  be  ascertained." 
The  editor  clearly  writes  as  if  he  had  either  seen,  or  heard 
accurately  described,  this  piece  of  Americana^  which  the  bib- 
liophile to-day  would  consider  a  treasure  trove.  Later  writers 
doubt  whether  any  such  book  existed,  for  it  is  hardly  credible 
that  the  Puritan  element  which  so  largely  composed  the  popu- 
lation of  Boston  in  the  first  quarter  of  the  eighteenth  century 
would  have  encouraged  the  printing  of  any  nonsensical  jingles. 
Boston,  however,  was  not  at  this  time  the  only  place  in 
the  colonies  where  primers  and  religious  books  were  written 
and  printed.  In  Philadelphia,  Andrew  Bradford,  famous  as 
the  founder  of  the  "American  Weekly  Mercury,"  had  in 
1714  put  through  his  press,  probably  upon  subscription,  the 

[  20] 


l/ 


American  Nursery 

"Last  Words  and  Dyeing  Expressions  of  Hannah  Hill,  aged 
1 1  years  and  near  three  Months."  This  morbid  account  of 
the  death  of  a  little  Quakeress  furnished  the  Philadelphia 
children  with  a  book  very  similar  to  Mather's  "Token."  Not 
to  be  outdone  by  any  precocious  example  in  Pennsylvania, 
the  Reverend  Mr.  Mather  soon  found  an  instance  of  "Early 
Piety  in  Elizabeth  Butcher  of  Boston,  being  just  8  years  and 
11  months  old,"  when  she  died  in  1718.  In  two  years  two 
editions  of  her  life  had  been  issued  "to  instrudand  to  invite 
little  children  to  the  exercise  of  early  piety." 

Such  mortuary  effusions  were  so  common  at  the  time  that 
Benjamin  Franklin's  witty  skit  upon  them  is  apropos  in  this 
connedion.  In  1719,  at  the  age  of  sixteen,  under  the  pseu- 
donym of  Mrs.  Dogood,  he  wrote  a  series  of  letters  for  his 
brother's  paper,  "  The  New  England  Courant."  From  the  fol- 
lowing extrad,  taken  from  these  letters,  it  is  evident  that  these 
children's  "Last  Words"  followed  the  prevailing  fashion: 

A  Receipt  to  make  a  Neruj  England 
Funeral  Elegy. 

For  the  title  of  your  Elegy,  Of  these  you  may  have  enough 
ready  made  at  your  Hands:  But  if  you  should  chuse  to  make 
it  yourself  you  must  be  sure  not  to  omit  the  Words  Aetatis 
Suae^  which  will  beautify  it  exceedingly. 

For  the  suhje^f  of  your  Elegy,  Take  one  of  your  neighbors 
who  has  lately  departed  this  life ;  it  is  no  great  matter  at  what 
age  the  Party  Dy'd,  but  it  will  be  best  if  he  went  away  sud- 
denly, being  KilVd^  Drown' d  or  Froze  to  Death. 

Having  chosen  the  Person,  take  all  his  Virtues,  Excel- 
lencies, &c.  and  if  he  have  not  enough,  you  may  borrow  some 

[21  ] 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

to  make  up  a  sufficient  Quantity :  To  these  add  his  last  Words, 
dying  Expressions,  &c.  if  they  are  to  be  had :  mix  all  these 
together,  and  be  sure  you  strain  them  well.  Then  season  all 
with  a  Handful  or  two  of  Melancholy  Expressions,  such  as 
Dreadful^  Dreadly^  cruel,  cold.  Death,  unhappy.  Fate,  weeping 
Eyes,  &c.  Having  mixed  all  these  Ingredients  well,  put  them 
in  an  empty  Scull  of  some  young  Harvard;  (but  in  case  you 
have  ne'er  a  One  at  Hand,  you  may  use  your  own^  then  let 
them  Ferment  for  the  Space  of  a  Fortnight,  and  by  that  Time 
they  will  be  incorporated  into  a  Body,  which  take  out  and 
having  prepared  a  sufficient  Quantity  of  double  Rhimes,  such 
as  Power,  Flower;  ^liver.  Shiver;  Grieve  us.  Leave  us ;  tell  you, 
excel  you;  Expeditions,  Physicians;  Fatigue  him.  Intrigue  him; 
&c.  you  must  spread  all  upon  Paper,  and  if  you  can  procure 
a  Scrap  of  Latin  to  put  at  the  End,  it  will  garnish  it  mightily: 
then  having  affixed  your  Name  at  the  bottom  with  a  Maestus 
Composuit,  you  will  have  an  Excellent  Elegy. 

N.B.  This  Receipt  will  serve  when  a  Female  is  the  sub- 
jed  of  your  Elegy,  provided  you  borrow  a  greater  Quantity 
of  Virtues,  Excellencies  &c. 

Of  other  original  books  for  children  of  colonial  parents  in  the 
first  quarter  of  that  century,  "A  Looking-glass"  did  but  mirror 
more  religious  episodes  concerning  infants,  while  Mather  in 
his  zeal  had  also  published  "An  Earnest  Exhortation"  to  New 
England  children,  and  "The  A,  B,  C,  of  religion.  Fitted  unto  the 
youngest  and  lowest  capacities."  To  this,  taking  advantage 
of  the  use  of  rhymes,  he  appended  further  instrudion,  includ- 
ing "The  Body  of  Divinity  versified."  With  our  knowledge 


American  Nursery 

of  the  clergyman's  methods  with  his  congregation  it  is  not 
difficult  to  imagine  that  he  insisted  upon  the  purchase  of  these 
godly  aids  for  every  household. 

In  attempting  to  reproduce  the  conditions  of  family  life 
in  the  early  settlements  and  towns  of  colonial  days,  we  turn 
quite  naturally  to  the  newspapers,  whose  appearance  in  the 
first  quarter  of  the  eighteenth  century  was  gladly  welcomed 
by  the  people  of  their  time,  and  whose  files  are  now  eagerly 
searched  for  items  of  great  or  small  importance.  Indeed,  much 
information  can  be  gathered  from  their  advertisements,  which 
often  filled  the  major  part  of  these  periodicals.  Apparently 
shop-keepers  were  keen  to  take  advantage  of  such  space  as 
was  reserved  for  them,  as  sometimes  a  marginal  note  informed 
the  public  that  other  advertisements  must  wait  for  the  next 
issue  to  appear. 

Booksellers'  announcements,  however,  are  not  too  frequent 
in  Boston  papers,  and  are  noticeably  lacking  in  the  early  is- 
sues of  the  Philadelphia  "  Weekly  Mercury."  This  dearth  of 
book-news  accounts  for  the  difficulty  experienced  by  book- 
lovers  of  that  town  in  procuring  literature — a  lack  noticed 
at  once  by  the  wide-awake  young  Franklin  upon  his  arrival 
in  the  city,  and  recorded  in  his  biography  as  follows: 

"At  the  time  I  established  myself  in  Pennsylvania  [1728] 
there  was  not  a  bookseller's  shop  in  any  of  the  colonies  to  the 
;  southward  of  Boston.  In  New  York  and  Phil'a.  the  printers 
;  were  indeed  stationers ;  they  sold  only  paper,  etc.,  ballads,  and 
\  a  few  books.  Those  who  lov'd  reading  were  obliged  to  send 
jfor  their  books  from  London." 

Franklin  undertook  to  better  this  condition  by  opening 

[  23] 


J 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

a  shop  for  the  sale  of  foreign  books.  Both  he  and  his  rival  in 
journaHsm,  Andrew  Bradford,  had  stationer's  shops,  in  which 
were  to  be  had  besides  "Good  Writing  Paper;  Cyphering 
Slates;  Ink  Powders,  etc.,  Chapmens  Books  and  Ballads." 
Bradford  also  advertised  in  seventeen  hundred  and  thirty  that 
all  persons  could  be  supphed  with  "  Primers  and  small  His- 
tories of  many  sorts."  "  Small  histories  "  were  probably  chap- 
books,  which,  hawked  about  the  country  by  peddlers  or  chap- 
men, contained  tales  of  "Fair  Rosamond,"  "Jane  Grey," 
"Tom  Thumb"  or  "Tom  Hick-a-Thrift,"  and  though  read 
by  old  and  young,  were  hardly  more  suitable  for  juvenile 
reading  than  the  religious  elegies  then  so  popular.  These 
chap-books  were  sold  in  considerable  quantities  on  account 
of  their  cheapness,  and  included  religious  subjeds  as  well  as 
tales  of  adventure. 

One  of  the  earliest  examples  of  this  chap-book  literature, 
thought  suitable  for  children,  was  printed  in  the  colonies  by 
the  press  of  Thomas  Fleet,  already  mentioned  as  a  printer 
of  small  books.  This  book  of  1736,  being  intended  for  ready 
sale,  was  such  as  every  Puritan  would  buy  for  the  family 
library.  Entitled  "The  Prodigal  Daughter,"  it  told  in  Psalm- 
book  metre  of  a  "proud,  vain  girl,  who,  because  her  parents 
would  not  indulge  her  in  all  her  extravagances,  bargained 
with  the  devil  to  poisen  them."  The  parents,  however,  were 
warned  by  an  angel  of  her  intentions: 

"One  night  her  parents  fleeping  were  in  bed 
Nothing  but  troubled  dreams  run  in  their  head, 
At  length  an  angel  did  to  them  appear 
Saying  awake,  and  unto  me  give  ear. 

[  H] 


American  Nursery 

A  meflenger  Pm  sent  by  Heaven  kind 
To  let  you  know  your  lives  are  both  defign'd; 
Your  gracelefs  child,  whom  you  love  fo  dear, 
She  for  your  precious  lives  hath  laid  a  fnare. 
To  poifon  you  the  devil  tempts  her  fo, 
She  hath  no  power  from  the  fnare  to  go: 
But  God  fuch  care  doth  of  his  fervants  take, 
Thofe  that  believe  on  Him  He  '11  not  forfake. 

"You  muft  not  ufe  her  cruel  or  fevere. 
For  though  thefe  things  to  you  I  do  declare. 
It  is  to  fhow  you  what  the  Lord  can  do. 
He  foon  can  turn  her  heart,  you  '11  find  it  fo." 

The  daughter,  discovered  in  her  attempt  to  poison  their  food, 
was  reproached  by  the  mother  for  her  evil  intention  and 
swooned.  Every  effort  failed  to  "bring  her  spirits  to  revive:" 

"  Four  days  they  kept  her,  when  they  did  prepare 
To  lay  her  body  in  the  duft  we  hear. 
At  her  funeral  a  fermon  then  was  preachM, 
All  other  wicked  children  for  to  teach.  .  .  - 
But  fuddenly  they  bitter  groans  did  hear 
Which  much  furprized  all  that  then  were  there. 
At  length  they  did  obferve  the  difmal  found 
Came  from  the  body  juft  laid  in  the  ground." 

The  Puritan  pride  in  funeral  display  is  naively  exhibited  in 
the  portrayal  of  the  girl  when  she  "in  her  coffin  sat,  and  did 
admire  her  winding  sheet,"  before  she  related  her  experiences 
"among  lonesome  wild  deferts  and  briary  woods,  which  dif- 
mal were  and  dark."  But  immediately  after  her  description 
of  the  lake  of  burning  misery  and  of  the  fierce  grim  Tempter, 

I  the  Puritan  matte r-of-fad  acceptance  of  it  all  is  suggested  by 

I  the  concluding  lines: 

[  25] 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

"  When  thus  her  ftory  fhe  to  them  had  told, 
She  faid,  put  me  to  bed  for  I  am  cold." 

The  illustrations  of  a  later  edition  entered  thoroughly  into 
the  spirit  of  the  author's  intent.  The  contemporary  opinion 
of  the  French  chara6ter  is  quaintly  shown  in  the  portrait  of 
the  Devil  dressed  as  a  French  gentleman,  his  cloven  foot  dis- 
covering his  identity.  Whatever  deficiencies  are  revealed  in 
these  early  attempts  to  illustrate,  they  invariably  expressed 
the  artist's  purpose,  and  in  this  case  the  Devil,  after  the  girl's 
conversion,  is  drawn  in  lines  very  acceptable  to  Puritan  chil- 
dren's idea  of  his  personality. 

Almanacs  also  were  in  demand,  and  furnished  parents  and 
children,  in  many  cases,  with  their  entire  library  for  week-day 
reading.  "Successive  numbers  hung  from  a  string  by  the 
chimney  or  ranked  by  years  and  generations  on  cupboard 
shelves."*  But  when  Franklin  made  "Poor  Richard"  an  in- 
ternational success,  he,  by  giving  short  extrads  from  Swift, 
Steele,  Defoe,  and  Bacon,  accustomed  the  provincial  popu- 
lation, old  and  young,  to  something  better  than  the  meagre 
religious  fare  provided  by  the  colonial  press. 

Such,  then,  were  the  literary  conditions  for  children  when 
an  advertisement  inserted  in  the  "Weekly  Mercury"  gave 
promise  of  better  days  for  the  little  Philadelphians.-f- Strangely 
enough,  this  attempt  to  make  learning  seem  attradive  to 
children  did  not  appear  in  the  booksellers'  lists;  but  crowded 
in  between  Tandums,  Holland  Tapes,  London  Steel,  and 

*  Sears,  American  Literature^  p.  86. 

■f  Although  this  appears  to  be  the  first  advertisement  of  gilt  horn-books  in  Philadelphia  papers, 
an  inventory  of  the  estate  of  Michael  Perry,  a  Boston  bookseller,  made  in  seventeen  hundred, 
includes  sixteen  dozen  gilt  horn-books. 

[26] 


The  Devil  appears  as  a  French  Gentleman 


American  Nursery 

good  Muscavado  Sugar,  —  "  Guilt  horn  books  "  were  adver- 
tised by  Joseph  Sims  in  1740  as  "for  sale  on  reasonable  Terms 
for  Cash." 

Horn-books  in  themselves  were  only  too  common,  and  not 
in  the  least  delightful.  Made  of  thin  wood,  whereon  was 
placed  a  printed  sheet  of  paper  containing  the  alphabet  and 
Lord's  Prayer,  a  horn-book  was  hardly,  properly  speaking, 
a  book  at  all.  But  when  the  printed  page  was  covered  with 
yellowish  transparent  horn,  secured  to  the  wooden  back  by 
strips  of  brass,  it  furnished  an  economical  and  pradically  in- 
destrudible  elementary  text-book  for  thousands  of  English- 
speaking  children  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic.  Sometimes 
an  effort  was  also  made  to  guard  against  the  inconvenient 
faculty  of  children  for  losing  school-books,  by  attaching  a 
cord,  which,  passing  through  a  hole  in  the  handle  of  the  board, 
was  hung  around  the  scholar's  neck.  But  since  nothing  is  proof 
against  the  ingenuity  of  a  schoolboy,  many  were  successfully 
disposed  of  Although  printed  by  thousands,  few  in  England 
or  in  America  have  survived  the  century  that  has  elapsed 
since  they  were  used.  Occasionally,  in  tearing  down  an  old 
building,  one  of  these  horn-books  has  been  found;  dropped 
in  a  convenient  hole,  it  has  remained  secure  from  parents* 
sight,  until  brought  to  light  by  workmen  and  prized  as  a 
curiosity  by  grown  people  of  the  present  generation.  This 
notice  of  little  gilt  horn-books  was  inserted  in  the  "Weekly 
Mercury"  but  once.  Whether  the  supply  was  quickly  ex- 
hausted, or  whether  they  did  not  prove  a  successful  novelty, 
can  never  be  known;  but  at  least  they  herald  the  approach  of 
the  little  gilt  story-books  which  ten  years  later  were  to  make 

[  27] 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

the  name  of  John  Newbery  well  known  in  English  house- 
holds, and  hardly  less  familiar  in  the  American  colonies. 

So  far  the  only  attractions  to  induce  children  to  read  have 
been  through  the  pidures  in  the  Primer  of  New  England,  and 
by  the  gilding  of  the  horn-book.  From  further  south  comes 
the  first  note  of  amusement  in  reading,  as  well  as  the  first 
expression  of  pleasure  from  the  children  themselves  in  regard 
to  a  book.  In  1741,  in  Virginia,  two  letters  were  written  and 
received  by  R.  H.  Lee  and  George  Washington.  These  letters, 
which  afford  the  first  in  any  way  authentic  account  of  tales 
of  real  entertainment,  are  given  by  Mr.  Lossing  in  "The 
Home  of  Washington,"  and  tell  their  own  tale : 

\Richard  Henry  Lee  to  George  Washingtori\ 
Pa  brought  me  two  pretty  books  full  of  pidures  he  got 
them  in  Alexandria  they  have  pidures  of  dogs  and  cats  and 
tigers  and  elefants  and  ever  so  many  pretty  things  cousin 
bids  me  send  you  one  of  them  it  has  a  pidure  of  an  elefant 
and  a  little  indian  boy  on  his  back  like  uncle  jo's  Sam  pa 
says  if  I  learn  my  tasks  good  he  will  let  uncle  jo  bring  me  to 
see  you  will  you  ask  your  ma  to  let  you  come  to  see  me. 

Richard  henry  Lee. 

[G.  Washington  to  R.  H.  Lee'] 
Dear  Dickey —  I  thank  you  very  much  for  the  pretty  pidure 
book  you  gave  me.  Sam  asked  me  to  show  him  the  pidures 
and  I  showed  him  all  the  pidures  in  it;  and  I  read  to  him 
how  the  tame  Elephant  took  care  of  the  Master's  little  boy, 
and  put  him  on  his  back  and  would  not  let  anybody  touch 
his  master's  little  son.  I  can  read  three  or  four  pages  some- 

[28] 


American  Nursery 

times  without  missing  a  word.  ...  I  have  a  little  piece  of 
poetry  about  the  pidure  book  you  gave  me  but  I  mustn't 
tell  you  who  wrote  the  poetry. 

G.  W.'s  compliments  to  R.  H.  L. 
And  likes  his  book  full  well, 
Henceforth  will  count  him  his  friend 
And  hopes  many  happy  days  he  may  spend. 

Your  good  friend 

George  Washington. 

In  a  note  Mr.  Lossing  states  that  he  had  copies  of  these 
two  letters,  sent  him  by  a  Mr.  Lee,  who  wrote :  "  The  letter 
of  Richard  Henry  Lee  was  written  by  himself,  and  uncor- 
reded  sent  by  him  to  his  boy  friend  George  Washington. 
The  poetical  effusion  was,  I  have  heard,  written  by  a  Mr. 
Howard,  a  gentleman  who  used  to  visit  at  the  house  of 
Mr.  Washington." 

It  would  be  gratifying  to  know  the  titles  of  these  two  books, 
so  evidently  English  chap-book  tales.  It  is  probable  that  they 
were  imported  by  a  shop-keeper  in  Alexandria,  as  in  sev- 
enteen hundred  and  forty-one  there  was  only  one  press  in 
Virginia,  owned  by  William  Sharps,  who  had  moved  from 
Annapolis  in  seventeen  hundred  and  thirty-six.  Luxuries 
were  so  much  more  common  among  the  Virginia  planters, 
and  life  was  so  much  more  roseate  in  hue  than  was  the  case 
in  the  northern  colonies,  that  it  seems  most  natural  that  two 
southern  boys  should  have  left  the  earliest  account  of  any 
real  story-books.  Though  unfortunately  nameless,  they  at  least 
form  an  interesting  coincidence.  Bought  in  seventeen  hun- 
dred and  forty-one,  they  follow  just  one  hundred  years  later 

[  ^9  ] 


Forgotten  Books 

than  the  meeting  of  the  General  Court,  which  was  responsible 
for  the  preparation  of  Cotton's  "Milk  for  Babes,"  and  precede 
by  a  century  the  date  when  an  American  story-book  litera- 
ture was  recognized  as  very  different  from  that  written  for 
English  children. 


[30] 


CHAPTER  II 

1747-1767 


He  who  learns  his  letters  fair, 
Shall  have  a  coach  and  take  the  air. 

Royal  Primer i  Newbery,  1762 

Our  king  the  good 
No  man  of  blood. 

The  Neiv  England  Primer ^  1762 


\J 


CHAPTER  II 

1747-1767 
The  Play -Book  in  England 

THE  vast  horde  of  story-books  so  constantly  poured 
into  modern  nurseries  makes  it  difficult  to  realize  that 
\  the  library  of  the  early  colonial  child  consisted  of  such  books 
"•  as  have  been  already  described.  The  juvenile  books  to-day 
are  multiform.  The  quantities  displayed  upon  shop-counters 
or  ranged  upon  play-room  shelves  include  a  variety  of  sub- 
jeds  bewildering  to  all  but  those  whose  business  necessitates 
a  knowledge  of  this  kind  of  literature.  For  the  little  child 
there  is  no  lack  of  gayly  colored  pidures  and  short  tales  in 
large  print;  for  the  older  boys  and  girls  there  lies  a  generous 
choice,  ranging  from  Bunny  stories  to  Jungle  Books,  or  they 

\  "May  see  how  all  things  are, 

Seas  and  cities  near  and  far. 
And  the  flying  fairies'  looks 
In  the  pidure  story-books." 

The  contrast  is  indeed  extreme  between  that  scanty  fare  of 
dull  sermons  and  "The  New  England  Primer"  given  to  the 
I  little  people  of  the  early  eighteenth  century,  and  this  su- 
perabundance prepared  with  lavish  care  for  the  nation  of 
American  children. 

The  beginning  of  this  complex  juvenile  literature  is,  there- 

.  fore,  to  be  regarded  as  a  comparatively  modern  invention 

I  of  about  seventeen  hundred  and  forty-five.  From  that  date 

can  be  traced  the  slow  growth  of  a  literature  written  with  an 

avowed  intention  of  furnishing  amusement  as  well  as  instruc- 

[33  ] 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

tion;  and  in  the  toy-books  published  one  hundred  and  fifty 
years  ago  are  found  the  prototypes  of  the  present  modes  of 
bringing  fun  and  knowledge  to  the  American  fireside. 

The  question  at  once  arises  as  to  the  reason  why  this  lit- 
erature came  into  existence ;  why  was  it  that  children  after 
seventeen  hundred  and  fifty  should  have  been  favored  in  a 
way  unknown  to  their  parents? 

To  even  the  casual  reader  of  English  literature  the  answer 
is  plain,  if  this  subjed  of  toy-books  be  regarded  as  of  near 
kin  to  the  larger  body  of  writing.  It  has  been  somewhat  the 
custom  to  consider  children's  literature  as  a  thing  wholly 
apart  from  that  of  adults,  probably  because  the  majority  of 
the  authors  of  these  little  tales  have  so  generally  lacked  the 
qualities  indispensable  for  any  true  literary  work.  In  reality  the 
connedion  between  the  two  is  somewhat  like  that  of  parent 
and  child;  the  smaller  body,  though  lacking  in  power,  has 
closely  imitated  the  larger  mass  of  writing  in  form  and  kind, 
and  has  reileded,  sometimes  clearly,  sometimes  dimly,  the 
good  or  bad  fashions  that  have  shared  the  successive  periods 
of  literary  history,  like  a  child  who  unconsciously  reproduces 
a  parent's  foibles  or  excellences. 

It  is  to  England,  then,  that  we  must  look  to  find  the  con- 
ditions out  of  which  grew  the  necessity  for  this  modern  in- 
vention— the  story-book. 

The  love  of  stories  has  been  the  splendid  birthright  of 
every  child  in  all  ages  and  in  all  lands.  "Stories,"  wrote 
Thackeray,  —  "stories  exist  everywhere;  there  is  no  calcu- 
lating the  distance  through  which  the  stories  have  come  to 
us,  the  number  of  languages  through  which  they  have  been 

[34] 


\J 


American  Nursery 

filtered,  or  the  centuries  during  which  they  have  been  told. 
Many  of  them  have  been  narrated  almost  in  their  present 
shape  for  thousands  of  years  to  the  little  copper-coloured 
Sanscrit  children,  listening  to  their  mothers  under  the  palm- 
trees  by  the  banks  of  the  yellow  Jumna — their  Brahmin 
mother,  who  softly  narrated  them  through  the  ring  in  her 
nose.  The  very  same  tale  has  been  heard  by  the  Northern 
Vikings  as  they  lay  on  their  shields  on  deck;  and  the  Arabs 
couched  under  the  stars  on  the  Syrian  plains  when  their 
flocks  were  gathered  in,  and  their  mares  were  picketed  by 
the  tents."  This  piduresque  description  leads  exadly  to  the 
point  to  be  emphasized:  that  children  shared  in  the  simple 
tales  of  their  people  as  long  as  those  tales  retained  their  fresh- 
ness and  simplicity;  but  when,  as  in  England  in  the  eight- 
eenth century,  the  literature  lost  these  qualities  and  became 
artificial,  critical,  and  even  skeptical,  it  lost  its  charm  for  the 
little  ones  and  they  no  longer  cared  to  listen  to  it. 

Fashion  and  taste  were  then  alike  absorbed  in  the  works 
of  Dry  den.  Pope,  Addison,  Steele,  and  Swift,  and  the  novels 
from  the  pens  of  Richardson,  Fielding,  and  Smollett  had  be- 
gun to  claim  and  to  hold  the  attention  of  the  English  read- 
ing public.  The  children,  however,  could  neither  comprehend 
nor  enjoy  the  witty  criticism  and  subtle  treatment  of  the  top- 
ics discussed  by  the  older  men,  although,  as  will  be  seen  in 
another  chapter,  the  novels  became,  in  both  the  original  and 
in  the  abridged  forms,  the  delight  of  many  a  "young  master 
and  miss."  Meanwhile,  in  the  American  colonies  the  people 
who  could  afford  to  buy  books  inherited  their  taste  for  litera- 
ture as  well  as  for  tea  from  the  Puritans  and  fashionables  in 

[35] 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

the  mother  country;  although  it  is  a  fad  familiar  to  all,  that 
the  works  of  the  comparatively  few  native  authors  lagged, 
in  spirit  and  in  style,  far  behind  the  writings  of  Englishmen 
of  the  time. 

The  reading  of  one  who  was  a  boy  in  the  older  era  of  the 
urbane  Addison  and  the  witty  Pope,  and  a  man  in  the  newer 
period  of  the  novelists,  is  well  described  in  Benjamin  Frank- 
lin's autobiography.  "All  the  little  money,"  wrote  that  book- 
lover,  "  that  came  into  my  hands  was  laid  out  in  books.  Pleased 
with  the  Pilgrim's  Progress,  my  colledion  was  of  John  Bun- 
I  yan's  works  in  separate  volumes.  I  afterwards  sold  them  to 
I  buy  R.  Burton's  Historical  CoUedions;  they  were  Chapmen's 
i  books,  and  cheap,  40  or  50  in  all." 

Burton's  "Historical  CoUedions"  contained  history,  trav- 
els, adventures,  fidion,  natural  history,  and  biography.  So 
great  was  the  favor  in  which  they  were  held  in  the  eight- 
eenth century  that  the  compiler,  Nathaniel  Crouch,  almost 
lost  his  identity  in  his  pseudonym,  and  like  the  late  Mr.  Cle- 
mens, was  better  known  by  his  nom-de-plume  than  by  his 
family  name.  According  to  Dunton,  he  "melted  down  the 
best  of  the  English  histories  into  twelve-penny  books,  which 
are  filled  with  wonders,  rarities  and  curiosities."  Although 
charaderized  by  Dr.  Johnson  as  "  very  proper  to  allure  back- 
ward readers,"  the  contents  of  many  of  the  various  books 
afforded  the  knowledge  and  entertainment  eagerly  grasped 
by  Franklin  and  other  future  makers  of  the  American  na- 
tion. The  scarcity  of  historical  works  concerning  the  colonies 
made  Burton's  account  of  the  "English  Empire  in  America" 
at  once  a  mine  of  interest  to  wide-awake  boys  of  the  day. 

[36] 


American  Nursery 

Number  VIII,  entitled  "Winter  Evenings'  Entertainment," 
was  long  a  source  of  amusement  with  its  stories  and  riddles, 
and  its  title  was  handed  down  to  other  books  of  a  similar 
nature.  To  children,  however,  the  best-known  volume  of  the 
series  was  Burton's  illustrated  versification  of  Bible  stories 
called  "The  Youth's  Divine  Pastime."  But  the  subjeds  chosen 
by  Burton  were  such  as  belonged  to  a  very  plain-spoken  age; 
and  as  the  versifier  was  no  euphuist  in  his  relation  of  fads, 
the  result  was  a  remarkable  "Pastime  for  Youth."  The  lit- 
erature read  by  English  children  was,  of  course,  the  same; 
the  little  ones  of  both  countries  ate  of  the  same  tree  of  know- 
ledge of  fads,  often  either  silly  or  revolting. 

To  deliver  the  younger  and  future  generations  from  such 
unpalatable  and  indigestible  mental  food,  there  was  soon  to 
appear  in  London  a  man,  John  Newbery  by  name,  who,  al- 
ready a  printer,  publisher,  and  vendor  of  patent  medicines, 
seized  the  opportunity  to  issue  stories  written  especially  for 
the  amusement  of  little  children. 

While  Newbery  was  making  his  plans  to  provide  pleasure 
for  young  folks  in  England,  in  the  colonies  the  idea  of  a 
child's  need  of  recreation  through  books  was  slowly  gaining 
ground.  It  is  well  to  note  the  manner  in  which  the  little  colo- 
nists were  prepared  to  receive  Newbery's  books  as  recreative 
features  crept  gradually  into  the  very  few  publications  of 
which  there  is  record. 

In  seventeen  hundred  and  forty-five  native  talent  was  still  en- 
tirely confined  to  writing  for  little  people  lugubrious  sermons 
or  discourses  delivered  on  Sunday  and  "  Catechize  days,"  and 
afterwards  printed  for  larger  circulation.  The  reprints  from 

[37] 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

English  publications  were  such  exotics  as,  "A  Poesie  out  of 
Mr.  Dod's  Garden,"  an  alluring  title,  which  did  not  in  the 
least  deceive  the  small  colonials  as  to  the  religious  nature  of 
its  contents. 

In  New  York  the  Dutch  element,  until  the  advent  of  Gar- 
rat  Noel,  paid  so  little  attention  to  the  subjed  of  juvenile  liter- 
ature that  the  popularity  of  Watts's  "Divine  Songs"  (issued 
by  an  Englishman)  is  well  attested  by  the  fad  that  at  present 
it  is  one  of  the  very  few  child's  books  of  any  kind  recorded 
as  printed  in  that  city  before  1760.  But  in  Boston,  old  Thomas 
Fleet,  in  1741,  saw  the  value  of  the  element  of  some  enter- 
tainment in  connection  with  reading,  and,  when  he  published 
"The  Parents'  Gift,  containing  a  choice  colledion  of  God's 
judgments  and  Mercies,"  lives  of  the  Evangelists,  and  other 
religious  matter,  he  added  a  "variety  of  pleasant  Pidures 
proper  for  the  Entertainment  of  Children."  This  is,  perhaps, 
the  first  printed  acknowledgment  in  America  that  pidures 
were  commendable  to  parents  because  entertaining  to  their 
offspring.  Such  an  idea  put  into  words  upon  paper  and  ad- 
vertised in  so  well-read  a  sheet  as  the  "Boston  Evening  Post," 
must  surely  have  impressed  fathers  and  mothers  really  soli- 
citous for  the  family  welfare  and  anxious  to  provide  harm- 
less pleasure.  This  pidorial  element  was  further  encouraged 
by  Franklin,  when,  in  1747,  he  reprinted,  probably  for  the 
first  time  in  this  country,  "Dil worth's  New  Guide  to  the  Eng- 
lish Tongue."  In  this  school-book,  after  the  alphabets  and 
spelling  lessons,  a  special  feature  was  introduced,  that  is,  il- 
lustrated "  Seled  Fables."  The  cuts  at  the  top  of  each  fable 
possess  an  added  interest  from  the  supposition  that  they  were 

[  38  ] 


American  Nursery 

engraved  by  the  printer  himself;  and  the  constant  use  of  the 
"Guide  "  by  colonial  school-masters  and  mistresses  made  their 
pupils  unconsciously  quite  ready  for  more  illustrated  and 
fewer  homiletic  volumes. 

Indeed,  before  the  middle  of  the  century  pidures  had  be- 
come an  accepted  feature  of  the  few  juvenile  books,  and  "The 
History  of  the  Holy  Jesus"  versified  for  little  ones  was  is- 
sued by  at  least  two  old  Boston  printers  in  1 747  and  1 748 
with  more  than  a  dozen  cuts.  Among  the  rare  extant  copies 
of  this  small  chap-book  is  one  that,  although  torn  and  dis- 
figured by  tiny  fingers  and  the  century  and  a  half  since  it 
pleased  its  first  owner,  bears  the  personal  touch  of  this  inscrip- 
tion :  "Ebenezer . . .  Bought  June  ...  1 749 . . .  price  0  =  2  =  d." 
Was  the  price  marked  upon  its  page  as  a  reminder  that  two 
shillings  was  a  large  price  to  pay  for  a  boy's  book  ?  Perhaps  for 
this  reason  it  received  the  careful  handling  that  has  enabled 
us  to  examine  it,  when  so  many  of  its  contemporaries  and 
successors  have  vanished. 

The  versified  story,  notwithstanding  its  quaintness  of  dic- 
tion, begins  with  a  dignified  diredness: 

"The  glorious  blessed  Time  had  come, 
The  Father  had  decreed, 
Jesus  of  Mary  there  was  born, 
And  in  a  Manger  laid." 

At  the  end  are  two  Hymns^  entitled  "Delight  in  the  Lord 
Jesus,"  and  "Absence  fi-om  Christ  intolerable."  The  final 
'[    stanza  is  typical  of  one  Puritan  dodrine  : 

"The  Devil  throws  his  fiery  Darts, 
And  wicked  Ones  do  ad  their  parts, 

[39] 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

To  ruin  me  when  Christ  is  gone. 
And  leaves  me  all  alone." 

The  woodcuts  are  not  the  least  interesting  feature  of  this  old- 
time  duodecimo,  from  the  pidure  showing  the  mother  reading 
to  her  children  to  the  illustration  of  the  quaking  of  the  earth 
on  the  day  of  the  crucifixion.  Crude  and  badly  drawn  as  they 
now  seem,  they  were  surely  sufficient  to  attrad  the  child  of 
their  generation. 

About  the  same  time  old  Zechariah  Fowle,  who  appren- 
ticed Isaiah  Thomas,  and  both  printed  and  vended  chap- 
books  in  Back  Street,  Boston,  advertised  among  his  list  of 
books  "Lately  Publiih'd  "  this  same  small  book,  together  with 
"A  Token  for  Youth,"  the  "Life  and  Death  of  Elizabeth 
Butcher,"  "A  Prefervative  from  the  Sins  and  Follies  of  Child- 
hood and  Youth,"  "The  Prodigal  Daughter,"  "The  Happy 
Child,"  and  "The  New  Gift  for  Children  with  Cuts."  Of  these 
"The  New  Gift"  was  certainly  a  real  story-book,  as  one  of 
a  later  edition  still  extant  readily  proves. 
^  Thus  the  children  in  both  countries  were  prepared  to  en- 
joy Newbery's  miniature  story-books,  although  for  somewhat 
different  reasons:  in  England  the  literature  had  reached  a 
point  too  artificial  to  be  interesting  to  little  ones;  in  America 
the  produd  of  the  press  and  the  charader  of  the  majority  of 
the  juvenile  importations,  the  reprints,  or  home-made  chap- 
books,  has  been  shown  to  be  such  as  would  hardly  attrad  those 
who  were  to  be  the  future  arbiters  of  the  colonies'  destiny. 

The  reasons  for  the  coming  to  light  of  this  new  form  of 
infant  literature  have  been  dwelt  upon  in  order  to  show  the 
necessity  for  some  change  in  the  kind  of  reading-matter  to  be 

[40] 


American  Nursery 

put  in  the  hands  of  the  younger  members  of  the  family.  The 
natural  order  of  consideration  is  next  to  point  out  the  phase 
it  assumed  upon  its  appearance  in  England, — a  phase  largely 
due  to  the  influence  of  one  man, — and  once  there,  the  modi- 
fications efFeded  by  the  fashions  in  adult  fidion. 

Although  there  was  already  much  interest  in  the  education' 
and  welfare  of  children  still  in  the  nursery,  the  chara6ter  of 
the  first  play-books  was  probably  due  to  the  esteem  in  which 
the  opinions  of  the  philosopher,  John  Locke,  were  held.  He  it 
was  who  gradually  moved  the  vane  of  public  opinion  around 
to  serious  consideration  of  recreation  as  a  fa6tor  in  the  well- 
being  of  these  nursery  inmates.  Although  it  took  time  for 
Locke's  ideas  upon  the  subjed  to  sink  into  the  public  mind, 
it  is  impossible  to  compare  one  of  the  first  attempts  to  pro- 
duce a  play-book,  "The  Child's  New  Play-thing,"  with  the 
advice  written  to  his  friend,  Edward  Clarke,  without  feel- 
ing that  the  progress  from  the  religious  books  to  primers  and 
readers  (such  as  " Dilworth's  Guide"),  and  then  onward  to 
story-books,  was  largely  the  result  of  the  publication  of  his 
letters  under  the  title  of  "  Thoughts  on  Education." 

In  these  letters  Locke  took  an  extraordinary  course:  he 
first  made  a  quaint  plea  for  the  general  welfare  of  Mr.  Clarke's 
little  son.  "I  imagine,"  he  wrote,  "the  minds  of  children  are 
as  easily  turned  this  or  that  way  as  Water  itself,  and  though 
this  be  the  principal  Part,  and  our  main  Care  should  be  about 
the  inside,  yet  the  Clay  Cottage  is  not  to  be  negleded.  I  shall 
therefore  begin  with  the  case,  and  consider  first  the  Health 
of  the  body."  Under  Health  he  discussed  clothing,  including 
thin  shoes,  "that  they  may  leak  and  let  in  Water."  A  pause 

[41  ] 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

was  then  made  to  show  the  benefits  of  wet  feet  as  against 
the  apparent  disadvantages  of  filthy  stockings  and  muddy- 
boots;  for  mothers  even  in  that  time  were  inclined  to  consider 
their  floors  and  steps.  Bathing  next  received  attention.  Bath- 
ing every  day  in  cold  water,  Locke  regarded  as  exceedingly 
desirable;  no  exceptions  were  to  be  made,  even  in  the  case 
of  a  "puleing  and  tender"  child.  The  beneficial  effeds  of 
air,  sunlight,  the  establishment  of  good  condud,  diet,  sleep, 
and  "physick"  were  all  discussed  by  the  dodor  and  philoso- 
pher, before  the  development  of  the  mind  was  touched  upon. 
"Education,"  he  wrote,  "concerns  itself  with  the  forming  of 
Children's  Minds,  giving  them  that  seasoning  early,  which 
shall  influence  their  Lives  later."  This  seasoning  referred  to 
the  training  of  children  in  matters  pertaining  to  their  general 
government  and  to  the  reverence  of  parents.  For  the  Puritan 
population  it  was  undoubtedly  a  shock  to  find  Locke  inter- 
esting himself  in,  and  moreover  advocating,  dancing  as  a  part 
of  a  child's  education;  and  worst  of  all,  that  he  should  mention 
it  before  their  hobby.  Learning.  In  this  connexion  it  is  worth 
while  to  make  mention  of  a  favorite  primer,  which,  pubhshed 
about  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  was  entitled  "  The 
Hobby  Horse."  Locke  was  quite  aware  that  his  method  would 
be  criticised,  and  therefore  took  the  bull  by  the  horns  in  the 
following  manner.  He  admitted  that  to  put  the  subjed  of 
learning  last  was  a  cause  for  wonder,  "especially  if  I  tell  you 
I  think  it  the  least  part.  This  may  seem  strange  in  the  mouth 
of  a  bookish  man,  and  this  making  usually  the  chief,  if  not 
only  bustle  and  stir  about  children;  this  being  almost  that 
alone,  which  is  thought  on,  when  People  talk  about  Education, 

[42] 


American  Nursery 

make  it  the  greater  Paradox."  An  unusual  piece  of  advice  it 
most  surely  was  to  parents  to  whose  children  came  the  task 
of  learning  to  read  as  soon  as  they  were  given  spoon-food. 

Even  more  revolutionary  to  the  custom  of  an  eighteenth 
century  mother  was  the  admonition  that  reading  "be  never 
made  a  Task."  Locke,  however,  was  not  the  man  to  urge  a 
cure  for  a  bad  habit  without  prescribing  a  remedy,  so  he  went 
on  to  say  that  it  was  always  his  "  Fancy  that  Learning  be  made 
a  Play  and  Recreation  to  Children" — a  "Fancy"  at  present 
much  in  vogue.  To  accomplish  this  desirable  result, "  Dice  and 
Play-things  with  the  Letters  on  them"  were  recommended 
to  teach  children  the  alphabet;  "and,"  he  added,  "twenty 
other  ways  may  be  found  ...  to  make  this  kind  of  Learning 
a  Sport  to  them."  Letter-blocks  were  in  this  way  made  popu- 
lar, and  formed  the  approved  and  advanced  method  until  in 
these  latter  days  pedagogy  has  swept  aside  the  letter-blocks 
and  syllabariums  and  carried  the  sport  to  word-pidures. 

This  theory  had  a  pradical  result  in  the  introdudion  to 
many  households  of  "The  Child's  New  Play-thing."  This 
book,  already  mentioned,  was  printed  in  England  in  seven- 
teen hundred  and  forty-three,  and  dedicated  to  Prince  George. 
In  seventeen  hundred  and  forty-four  we  find  through  the  "  Bos- 
ton Evening  Post"  of  January  23  that  the  third  edition  was 
sold  by  Joseph  Edwards,  in  Cornhill,  and  it  was  probably  from 
this  edition  that  the  first  American  edition  was  printed  in  seven- 
teen hundred  and  fifiiy.  From  the  following  description  of  this 
American  reprint  (one  of  which  is  happily  in  the  Lenox  Col- 
ledion),  it  will  be  seen  that  the  "Play-thing"  was  an  attempt 
to  follow  Locke's  advice,  as  well  as  a  conneding  link  between 

[43  ] 


si 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

the  primer  of  the  past  and  the  story-book  of  the  near  future. 
^c"/  The  title,  which  the  illustration  shows,  reads, "The  Child's 
New  Play-thing  being  a  spelling-book  intended  to  make 
Learning  to  read  a  diversion  instead  of  a  task.  Consisting  of 
Scripture-histories,  fables,  stories,  moral  and  religious  pre- 
cepts, proverbs,  songs,  riddles,  dialogues,  &c.  The  whole 
adapted  to  the  capacities  of  children,  and  divided  into  lessons 
of  one,  two,  three  and  four  syllables.  The  fourth  edition.  To 
which  is  added  three  dialogues;  i.  Shewing  how  a  little  boy 
shall  make  every  body  love  him.  2.  How  a  little  boy  shall 
grow  wiser  than  the  rest  of  his  school-fellows.  3.  How  a  little 
boy  shall  become  a  great  man.  Designed  for  the  use  of  schools, 
or  for  children  before  they  go  to  school."    a 

Coverless  and  faded,  hard  usage  is  written  in  unmistakable 
charade  rs  upon  this  play-thing  of  a  whole  family.  Upon  a  fly- 
leaf are  the  autographs  of  "Ebenezer  Ware  and  Sarah  Ware, 
Their  Book,"  and  upon  another  page  these  two  names  with 
the  addition  of  the  signatures  of  "  Ichabod  Ware  and  Cyrus 
Ware  1787."  One  parent  may  have  used  it  when  it  was  fresh 
from  the  press  of  Draper  &  Edwards  in  Boston;  then,  through 
enforced  economy,  handed  it  down  to  the  next  generation, 
who  doubtless  scorned  the  dedication  so  eminently  proper 
in  seventeen  hundred  and  fifty,  so  thoroughly  out  of  place 
thirty-seven  years  later.  There  it  stands  in  large  black  type : 

To  his  ROYAL  HIGHNESS  PRINCE  GEORGE  This  Litde 

Play-thing  is  most  humbly  dedicated 

By 

His  ROYAL  HIGHNESS'S 

Devoted  Servant 

[44] 


THE 

Child's  new  Play-Thmg : 

BEING    A 

SPELLING-BOOK 

IKTENEKD 

To  make  the  Learning  to  "Read 
a  Diverfion  inflc^id  of  a  Tajk, 

Confifi.ing  of 

Scripture-Hiftorics,     Fables,    Ston-s 

Maral  and  ReligioasPrecepts,  Proverbs,  Soags, 
Riddles,  DiaJogues,  Sec. 

The  Whole  adapted  to  the  Capacities  of  ChiU/c-i. 
antl  Divided  into  LeiTons  oi  ond,  tv/o,  thrct  aid 
four  Syllables. 

The  FOURTH  FDITION. 


To  which  is  added  Three  Dialogues  •, 

I.  Shewing  how  a  little  Boy  fliall  make 
every  body  love  him.  2.  How  a 
little  Boy  ihall  grow  wifer  chaa  the 
reft  of  his  School-fellows.  3.  How 
^  littk  Boy  (hall  become  ?.  grcatMan* 

Defigntdfor  theUSE  of  SCHOOLS, cr 
for  Children  hsfore  th  ey  go  to  School 

eOS'TON  :      Priafcd     by  J.  Prap6R» 
/,  '.^LWAKXis  Lq  C  ornhill 


^itle-page  from  ^'T^he  Child's  new  Flay-'^hing'" 


/ 


American  Nursery 

Of  especial  interest  are  the  alphabets  in  "Roman,  Italian,  and 
English  Names  "  on  the  third  page,  while  page  four  contains  the 
dear  old  alphabet  in  rhyme,  fortunately  not  altogether  for- 
gotten in  this  prosaic  age.  We  recognize  it  as  soon  as  we  see  it. 

"A      Apple-Pye 
B      bit  it 
C      cut  it," 

and  involuntarily  add,  D  divided  it.  After  the  spelling  lessons 
came  fables,  proverbs,  and  the  splendid  "Stories  proper  to 
raise  the  Attention  and  excite  the  Curiosity  of  Children"  of 
any  age;  namely,  "St. George  and  the  Dragon,"  "  Fortunatus," 
"  Guy  of  Warwick,"  "  Brother  and  Sister,"  "  Reynard  the  Fox," 
"The  Wolf  and  the  Kid."  "The  Good  Dr.  Watts,"  writes 
Mrs.  Field,  "is  supposed  to  have  had  a  hand  in  the  composi- 
tion of  this  toy  book  especially  in  the  stories,  one  of  which  is 
quite  in  the  style  of  the  old  hymn  writer."  Here  it  is : 

"Once  on  a  time  two  dogs  went  out  to  walk.  Tray  was  a  good 
dog,  and  would  not  hurt  the  least  thing  in  the  world,  but  Snap 
was  cross,  and  would  snarl  and  bite  at  all  that  came  in  his  way. 
At  last  they  came  to  a  town.  All  the  dogs  came  round  them. 
Tray  hurt  none  of  them,  but  Snap  would  grin  at  one,  snarl  at 
the  next,  and  bite  a  third,  till  at  last  they  fell  on  him  and  tore 
him  limb  from  limb,  and  as  poor  Tray  was  with  him,  he  met 
with  his  death  at  the  same  time. 

Moral 
"By  this  fable  you  see  how  dangerous  it  is  to  be  in  com- 
pany with  bad  boys.  Tray  was  a  quiet  harmless  dog,  and  hurt 
nobody,  but,  &c."* 

*  Field,  The  Child  and  his  Book,  p.  223. 

[45] 


Forgotten  Booh  of  the 

Thus  we  find  that  Locke  sowed  the  seed,  Watts  watered  the 
soil  in  which  the  seed  fell,  and  that  Newbery,  after  mixing  in 
ideas  from  his  very  fertile  brain,  soon  reaped  a  golden  harvest 
from  the  crop  of  readers,  pidure-books,  and  little  histories 
which  he,  with  the  aid  of  certain  well-known  authors,  pro- 
duced. 
y  According  to  his  biographer,  Mr.  Charles  Welsh,  John 
Newbery  was  born  in  a  quaint  parish  of  England  in  seven- 
teen hundred  and  thirteen.  Although  his  father  was  only  a 
small  farmer,  Newbury  inherited  his  bookish  tastes  from  an 
ancestor,  Ralph  or  Rafe  Newbery,  who  had  been  a  great  pub- 
lisher of  the  sixteenth  century.  Showing  no  inclination  toward 
the  life  of  a  farmer,  the  boy,  at  sixteen,  had  already  entered 
the  shop  of  a  merchant  in  Reading.  The  name  of  this  merchant 
is  not  known,  but  inference  points  to  Mr.  Carnan,  printer, 
proprietor,  and  editor  of  one  of  the  earliest  provincial  news- 
papers. In  seventeen  hundred  and  thirty-seven,  at  the  death 
of  Carnan,  John  Newbery,  then  about  twenty-four  years  of 
age,  found  himself  one  of  the  proprietor's  heirs  and  an  exec- 
utor of  the  estate.  Carnan  left  a  widow,  to  whom,  to  quote  her 
son,  Ne wbery's  "  love  of  books  and  acquirements  as  a  printer 
rendered  him  very  acceptable."  The  amiable  and  well-to-do 
widow  and  Newbery  were  soon  married,  and  their  youngest 
son,  Francis  Newbery,  eventually  succeeded  his  father  in  the 
business  of  publishing. 

Shortly  after  Newbery's  marriage  his  ambition  and  enter- 
prise resulted  in  the  establishment  of  his  family  in  London, 
where,  in  seventeen  hundred  and  forty-four,  he  opened  a  ware- 
house at  ^he  Bible  and  Crown^  near  Devereux  Court,  without 

[46  ] 


A    LITTLE    PRETTY 

P  O  C  K  E  T-B  O  O  K, 

Intended  for  the 
Instruction  and  Amusement 

O    F 

Little  Master  TOMMY, 

AND 

Pretty  Miss  POLLY. 

With  Two  LETTERS  rVom 
JACK   the   GIANT-KILLER 

AS      ALSO 

A  B  A  L  L  and  PINCUSHION; 

The  Ufeofwhich  will  infallibly  makeToMMY 
a  good  Boy,  and  Poll  y  a  good  Girl. 

To  which  is  added, 

A   LITTLE    SONG-BOOK, 

BEING 

A  New  Attempt  to  teach  Children 
the  Ufe  of  the  EngliCi  Alphabet,  by  Way 
of  Diverfion. 

The  first  UVP.CESTER  EDITIcTtT 

PRINTED  at  Worcester, M^fy^'.v/^x'.';. 
By  ISAIAH     THOMAS, 

And  sor.D,Wholefale  rind  Retail,  at  his  Book* 
Store.      Morci-xxxvir, 


^itle-page  from  ''J  Little  Pretty  Focket-Book' 


American  Nursery 

Temple  Bar.  Meanwhile  he  had  associated  himself  with  Ben- 
jamin Collins,  a  printer  in  Salisbury.  Collins  both  planned 
and  printed  some  of  Newbery's  toy  volumes,  and  his  name 
likewise  was  well-known  to  shop-keepers  in  the  colonies. 
Newbery  soon  found  that  his  business  warranted  another 
move  nearer  to  the  centre  of  trade.  He  therefore  combined 
two  establishments  into  one  at  the  now  celebrated  corner  of 
St.  Paul's  Churchyard,  and  at  the  same  time  decided  to  con- 
fine his  attention  exclusively  to  book  publishing  and  medicine 
vending. 

Before  his  departure  from  Devereux  Court,  Newbery  had 
published  at  least  one  book  for  juvenile  readers.  The  title 
reads :  "  Little  Pretty  Pocket-Book,  intended  for  the  instruc- 
tion and  Amusement  of  Little  Master  Tommy  and  Pretty 
Miss  Polly,  with  an  agreeable  Letter  to  read  from  Jack  the 
Giant  Killer,  as  also  a  Ball  and  Pincushion,  the  use  of  which 
will  infallibly  make  Tommy  a  good  Boy,  and  Polly  a  good 
Girl.  To  the  whole  is  prefixed  a  letter  on  education  humbly 
addressed  to  all  Parents,  Guardians,  Governesses,  &c.,  wherein 
rules  are  laid  down  for  making  their  children  strong,  healthy, 
virtuous,  wise  and  happy."  To  this  extraordinarily  long  title 
were  added  couplets  fi-om  Dryden  and  Pope,  probably  be- 
cause extrads  fi-om  these  poets  were  usually  placed  upon  the 
title-page  of  books  for  grown  people ;  possibly  also  in  order 
to  give  a  finish  to  miniature  volumes  that  would  be  like  the 
larger  publications.  A  wholly  simple  method  of  writing  title- 
pages  never  came  into  even  Newbery's  original  mind;  he  did 
for  the  juvenile  customer  exadly  what  he  was  accustomed  to 
do  for  his  father  and  mother.  And  yet  the  habit  of  spreading 

[47  ] 


J 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

out  over  the  page  the  entire  contents  of  the  book  was  not 
without  value :  it  gave  the  purchaser  no  excuse  for  not  know- 
ing what  was  to  be  found  within  its  covers ;  and  in  the  days 
when  books  were  a  luxury  and  literary  reviews  non-existent, 
the  country  trade  was  enabled  to  make  a  better  choice. 

The  manner  in  which  the  "  Little  Pretty  Pocket-Book  "  is 
written  is  so  charade  ristic  of  those  who  were  the  first  to  attempt 
to  write  for  the  younger  generation  in  an  amusing  way,  that  it 
is  worth  while  to  examine  briefly  the  topics  treated.  An  Ameri?. 
can  reprint  of  a  later  date,  now  in  the  Lenox  Colledion,  will 
serve  to  show  the  method  chosen  to  combine  instrudion  with 
amusement.  The  book  itself  is  miniature  in  size,  about  two 
by  four  inches,  with  embossed  gilt  paper  covers — Newbery's 
own  specialty  as  a  binding.  The  sixty-five  little  illustrations  at 
the  top  of  its  pages  were  numerous  enough  to  afford  pleasure 
to  any  eighteenth  century  child,  although  they  were  crude  in 
execution  and  especially  lacked  true  perspedive.  The  first 
chapter  after  the  "Address  to  Parents"  and  to  the  other  people 
mentioned  on  the  title-page  gives  letters  to  Master  Tommy 
and  Miss  Polly.  First,  Tommy  is  congratulated  upon  the  good 
charader  that  his  Nurse  has  given  him,  and  instruded  as  to  the 
use  of  the  "  Pocket-Book,"  "  which  will  teach  you  to  play  at  all 
those  innocent  games  that  good  Boys  and  Girls  divert  them- 
selves with."  The  boy  reader  is  next  advised  to  mark  his  good 
and  bad  adions  with  pins  upon  a  red  and  black  ball.  Little 
Polly  is  then  given  similar  congratulations  and  instrudions, 
except  that  in  her  case  a  pincushion  is  to  be  substituted  for 
a  ball.  Then  follow  thirty  pages  devoted  to  "alphabetically 
digested"  games,  from  "The  great  A  Flay"  and  "The  Little 

[48] 


f9       RULES  fir  BEHAVIOUR. 


BEHAVIOUR  wA^/Z^/  HOME. 

1   TW  /TAKE  a  Bow  always  when  you 
XVX  come  Home,  and  be  inftantly  un- 
covered. 

a  Be  never  covered  at  Home,  efpecially 
before  thy  Parents  or  Strangers. 

3  Never  fet  in  the  Prefence  of  thy  Pa. 
rents  without  bidding,  though  no  Stran- 
ger be  preient. 


J  f  age  from  "^  Little  Pretty  Focket-Book 


American  Nursery 

a  'Play''  to  "  The  great  and  little  Rs"  when  plays,  or  the  author's 
imagination,  give  out  and  rhymes  begin  the  alphabet  anew. 
Modern  pidure  alphabets  have  not  improved  much  upon 
this  jingle  : 

"Great  A,  Band  C 

And  tumble  down  D, 

The  Cat 's  a  blind  bufF, 

And  she  cannot  see." 

Next  in  order  are  four  fables  with  morals  (written  in  the  guise 
of  letters),  for  in  Newbery's  books  and  in  those  of  a  much 
later  period,  we  feel,  as  Mr.  Welsh  writes,  a  "strong  deter- 
mination on  the  part  of  the  authors  to  place  the  moral  plainly 
in  sight  and  to  point  steadily  to  it."  Pidures  also  take  a  lead- 
ing part  in  this  effort  to  inculcate  good  behaviour;  thus  Good 
Children  are  portrayed  in  cuts,  which  accompany  the  direc- 
tions for  attaining  perfection.  Proverbs,  having  been  hitherto 
introduced  into  school-books,  appear  again  quite  naturally  in 
this  source  of  diversion,  which  closes — at  least  in  the  Ameri- 
can edition — with  sixty-three  "Rules  for  Behaviour."  These 
rules  include  those  suitable  for  various  occasions,  such  as  "At 
the  Meeting-House,"  " Home,"  "The  Table,"  "  In  Company," 
and  "When  abroad  with  other  Children."  To-day,  when  many 
such  rules  are  as  obsolete  as  the  tiny  pages  themselves,  this 
chapter  affords  many  glimpses  of  the  customs  and  etiquette 
of  the  old-fashioned  child's  life.  Such  a  diredion  as  "  Be  not 
hasty  to  run  out  of  Meeting-House  when  Worship  is  ended, 
as  if  thou  weary  of  being  there"  (probably  an  American  adap- 
tation of  the  English  original),  recalls  the  well-filled  colonial 
meeting-house,  where  weary  children  sat  for  hours  on  high 

[49] 


/ 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

seats,  with  dangling  legs,  or  screwed  their  small  bodies  in 
vain  efforts  to  touch  the  floor.  Again  we  can  see  the  anxious 
mothers,  when,  after  the  long  sermon  was  brought  to  a  close, 
they  put  restraining  hands  upon  the  little  ones,  lest  they,  in 
haste  to  be  gone,  should  forget  this  admonition.  The  formalism 
of  the  time  is  suggested  in  this  request,  "Make  a  Bow  always 
when  come  Home,  and  be  instantly  uncovered,"  for  the  cere- 
mony of  polite  manners  in  these  bustling  days  has  so  much 
relaxed  that  the  modern  boy  does  all  that  is  required  if  he 
remembers  to  be  "instantly  uncovered  when  come  Home." 
Among  the  numerous  other  requirements  only  one  more  may 
be  cited — a  rule  which  reveals  the  table  manners  of  polite 
society  in  its  requisite  for  genteel  condud:  "Throw  not  any- 
thing under  the  Table.  Pick  not  thy  teeth  at  the  Table,  unless 
holding  thy  Napkin  before  thy  mouth  with  thine  other  Hand." 
With  such  an  array  of  intelledual  and  moral  contents,  the 
little  "  Pocket-Book "  may  appear  to-day  to  be  almost  any- 
thing except  an  amusement  book.  Yet  this  was  the  phase  that 
the  English  play-book  first  assumed,  and  it  must  not  be  for- 
gotten that  English  prose  fidion  was  only  then  coming  into 
existence,  except  such  germs  as  are  found  in  the  charader 
sketches  in  the  "Spedator"  and  in  the  cleverly  told  incidents 
by  Defoe. 

In  1744,  when  Newbery  published  this  duodecimo.  Dr. 
Samuel  Johnson  was  the  presiding  genius  of  English  let- 
ters; four  years  earlier,  fidion  had  come  prominently  into  the 
foreground  with  the  publication  of  "Pamela"  by  Samuel 
Richardson;  and  between  seventeen  hundred  and  forty  and 
seventeen   hundred   and  fifty-two,   Richardson's  "  Clarissa 

[  50  ] 


1/ 
American  Nursery 

Harlowe,"  Smollett's  "Roderick  Random"  and  "Peregrine 
Pickle,"  and  Fielding's  "Tom  Jones"  were  published.  This 
fad  may  seem  irrelevant  to  the  present  subjed;  neverthe- 
i  less,  the  idea  of  a  veritable  story-book,  that  is  a  book  relat- 
I  ing  a  tale,  does  not  seem  to  have  entered  Newbery's  mind 
I  until  after  these  novels  had  met  with  a  deserved  and  popu- 
\  lar  success. 

The  result  of  Newbery's  first  efforts  to  follow  Locke's 
advice  was  so  satisfadory  that  his  wares  were  sought  most 
eagerly.  "  Very  soon,"  said  his  son,  Francis  Newbery,  "  he  was 
in  the  full  employment  of  his  talents  in  writing  and  pub- 
lishing books  of  amusement  and  instrudion  for  Children.  The 
call  for  them  was  immense,  an  edition  of  many  thousands  be- 
ing sometimes  exhausted  during  the  Christmas  holidays.  His 
friend.  Dr.  Samuel  Johnson,  who,  like  other  grave  charade rs, 
could  now  and  then  be  jocose,  had  used  to  say  of  him,  'New- 
bery is  an  extraordinary  man,  for  I  know  not  whether  he  has 
read  or  written  most  Books.'"* 

The  bookseller  was  no  less  clever  in  his  use  of  other 
people's  wits.  No  one  knows  how  many  of  the  tiny  gilt 
bindings  covered  stories  told  by  impecunious  writers,  to 
whom  the  proceeds  in  times  of  starvation  were  bread  if  not 
butter.  Newbery,  though  called  by  Goldsmith  "  the  philan- 
thropic publisher  of  St.  Paul's  Churchyard,"  knew  very  well 
the  worth  to  his  own  pocket  of  these  authors'  skill  in  story- 
writing.  Between  the  years  seventeen  hundred  and  fifty-seven 
and  seventeen  hundred  and  sixty-seven,  the  English  pub- 
lisher was  at  the  height  of  his  prosperity ;  his  name  became 

*  Welsh,  Bookseller  of  the  Last  Century,  pp.  22,  23. 

[SI] 


4 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

a  household  word  in  England,  and  was  hardly  less  well  known 
to  the  little  colonials  of  America. 

Newbery's  literary  associations,  too,  were  both  numer- 
ous and  important.  Before  Oliver  Goldsmith  began  to  write 
for  children,  he  is  thought  to  have  contributed  articles  for 
Newbery's  "Literary  Magazine"  about  seventeen  hundred 
and  fifty-eight,  while  Johnson's  celebrated  "  Idler "  was  first 
printed  in  a  weekly  journal  started  by  the  publisher  about 
the  same  time.  For  the  "  British  Magazine "  Ne wbery  en- 
gaged Smollett  as  editor.  In  this  periodical  appeared  Gold- 
smith's "History  of  Miss  Stanton."  When  later  this  was  pub- 
lished as  "The  Vicar  of  Wakefield,"  it  contained  a  charac- 
terization of  the  bookseller  as  a  good-natured  man  with  red, 
pimpled  face,  "who  was  no  sooner  alighted  than  he  was  in 
haste  to  be  gone,  for  he  was  ever  on  business  of  the  utmost 
importance,  and  he  was  at  that  time  adually  compiling  ma- 
terials for  the  history  of  Mr.  Thomas  Trip."  *  With  such  an 
acquaintance  it  is  probable  that  Newbery  often  turned  to 
Goldsmith,  Giles  Jones,  and  Tobias  Smollett  for  assistance 
in  writing  or  abridging  the  various  children's  tales;  even  the 
pompous  Dr.  Johnson  is  said  to  have  had  a  hand  in  their 
produdion — since  he  expressed  a  wish  to  do  so.  Newbery 
himself,  however,  assumed  the  responsibility  as  well  as  the 
credit  of  so  many  little  "Histories,"  that  it  is  exceedingly  dif- 
ficult to  fix  upon  the  real  authors  of  some  of  the  best-known 
volumes  in  the  publisher's  juvenile  library. 

The  histories  of  "Goody  Two-Shoes"  and  "Tommy  Trip" 
(once  such  nursery  favorites,  and  now  almost,  if  not  quite, 

*  Foster,  Life  of  Goldsmith^  vol.  i,  p.  244. 

[52] 


^J 


American  Nursery 

forgotten)  have  been  attributed  to  various  men ;  but  accord- 
ing to  Mr.  Pearson  in  "Banbury  Chap-Books,"  Goldsmith 
confessed  to  writing  both.  Certainly,  his  sly  wit  and  quizzi- 
cal vein  of  humor  seem  to  pervade  "  Goody  Two-Shoes  "  — 
often  ascribed  to  Giles  Jones — and  the  notes  affixed  to  the 
rhymes  of  Mother  Goose  before  she  became  Americanized. 
Again  his  skill  is  seen  in  the  adaptation  of  "Wonders  of  Na- 
ture and  Art"  for  juvenile  admirers;  and  for  "Fables  in  Verse" 
he  is  generally  considered  responsible.  As  all  these  tales  were 
printed  in  the  colonies  or  in  the  young  Republic,  their  pe- 
culiarities and  particularities  may  be  better  described  when 
dealing  with  the  issues  of  the  American  press. 

John  Newbery,  the  most  illustrious  of  publishers  in  the 
eyes  of  the  old-fashioned  child,  died  in  1767,  at  the  com- 
paratively early  age  of  fifty-four.  Yet  before  his  death  he  had 
proved  his  talent  for  producing  at  least  fifty  original  little 
books,  to  be  worth  considerably  more  than  the  Biblical  ten 
talents. 

No  sketch  of  Newbery's  life  should  fail  to  mention  an- 
other large  fador  in  his  successful  experiment — the  inser- 
tion in  the  "London  Chronicle"  and  other  newspapers  of 
striking  and  novel  advertisements  of  his  gilt  volumes,  which 
were  to  be  had  for  "six-pence  the  price  of  binding."  An  in- 
stance of  his  skill  appeared  in  the  "London  Chronicle"  for 
December  19,  1764- January  1,  1765: 

"The  Philosophers,  Politicians,  Necromancers,  and  the 
learned  in  every  faculty  are  desired  to  observe  that  on  the 
1st  of  January,  being  New  Year's  Day  (oh,  that  we  may 
all  lead  new  lives  I)  Mr.  Newbery  intends  to  publish  the 

[  53  ] 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

following  important  volumes,  bound  and  gilt,  and  hereby 
invites  all  his  little  friends  who  are  good  to  call  for  them  at 
the  Bible  and  Sun  in  St.  Paul's  Churchyard,  but  those  who 
are  naue^hty  to  have  none."* 

Christopher  Smart,  his(brother)in-law,  who  was  an  adept 
in  the  art  of  puffing,  possibly  wrote  many  of  the  advertise- 
ments of  new  books — notices  so  cleverly  phrased  that  they 
could  not  fail  to  attrad  the  attention  of  many  a  country 
shop-keeper.  In  this  way  thousands  were  sold  to  the  coun- 
try distrids;  and  book-dealers  in  the  American  common- 
wealths, reading  the  English  papers  and  alert  to  improve 
their  trade,  imported  them  in  considerable  quantities. 

After  Newbery's  death,  his  son,  Francis,  and  Carnan,  his 
stepson,  carried  on  the  business  until  seventeen  hundred  and 
eighty-eight;  from  that  year  until  eighteen  hundred  and  two 
Edward  Newbery  (a  nephew  of  the  senior  Newbery),  who 
in  seventeen  hundred  and  sixty-seven  had  set  up  a  rival 
establishment,  continued  to  publish  new  editions  of  the 
same  little  works.  Yet  the  credit  of  this  experiment  of 
printing  juvenile  stories  belongs  entirely  to  the  older  pub- 
lisher. Through  them  he  made  a  strong  protest  against  the 
reading  by  children  of  the  lax  chap-book  literature,  so  excel- 
lently described  by  Mr.  John  Ashton  in  "Chap-Books  of 
the  Eighteenth  Century;"  and  although  his  stories  occasion- 
ally alluded  to  disagreeable  subjeds  or  situations,  these  were 
unfortunately  familiar  to  his  small  patrons. 

The  gay  little  covers  of  gilt  or  parti-colored  paper  in 
which  this  English  publisher  dressed  his  books  expressed 

*  Welsh,  Bookseller  of  the  Last  Century,  p.  109. 

[54] 


1/ 


American  Nursery 

an  evident  purpose  to  afford  pleasure,  which  was  increased 
by  the  many  illustrations  that  adorned  the  pages  and  added 
interest  to  the  contents. 

To  the  modern  child,  these  books  give  no  pleasure ;  but 
to  those  who  love  the  history  of  children  of  the  past,  they 
are  interesting  for  two  reasons.  In  them  is  portrayed  some- 
thing of  the  life  of  eighteenth  century  children;  and  by  them 
the  century's  difference  in  point  of  view  as  to  the  constitu- 
ents of  a  story-book  can  be  gauged.  Moreover,  all  Newbery's 
publications  are  to  be  credited  with  a  careful  preparation 
that  later  stories  sadly  lacked.  They  were  always  written 
with  a  certain  art;  if  the  language  was  pompous,  we  remem- 
ber Dr.  Johnson;  if  the  style  was  formal,  its  composition 
was  corred;  if  the  tales  lacked  ease  in  telling,  it  was  only 
the  starched  etiquette  of  the  day  reduced  to  a  printed  page; 
and  if  they  preached,  they  at  least  were  seldom  vulgar. 

The  preaching,  moreover,  was  of  different  charader  from 

that  of  former  times.  Hitherto,  the  fear  of  the  Lord  had 

wholly  occupied  the  author's  attention  when  he  composed 

a  book  "proper  for  a  child  as  soon  as  he  can  read;'^  now, 

material  welfare  was  dwelt  upon,  and  a  good  boy's  reward 

came  to  him  when  he  was  chosen  the  Lord  Mayor  of  London. 

f  Good  girls  were  not  forgotten,  and  were  assured  that,  like 

Goody  Two-Shoes,  they  should  attain  a  state  of  prosperity 

wherein 

"Their  Fortune  and  their  Fame  would  fix 
And  gallop  in  their  Coach  and  Six." 

Goody  Two-Shoes,  with  her  particular  method  of  instilling 
the  alphabet,  and  such  books  as  "  King  Pippin"  (a  prodigy  of 

[  55  ] 


J 


Forgotten  Books 

learning)  may  be  considered  as  tiny  commentaries  upon 
the  years  when  Johnson  reigned  supreme  in  the  realm  of 
learning.  These  and  many  others  emphasized  not  the  efFeds 
of  piety, — Cotton  Mather's  forte, — but  the  benefits  of  learn- 
ing; and  hence  the  good  boy  was  also  one  who  at  the  age 
of  five  spelt  "apple-pye"  corredly  and  therefore  eventually 
became  a  great  man. 

At  the  time  of  Newbery's  death  it  was  more  than  evident 
that  his  experiment  had  succeeded,  and  children's  stories 
were  a  printed  fad. 


[56] 


CHAPTER  III 

1750-177^ 


I 


Kings  should  be  good 
Not  men  of  blood. 

The  Neiv  England  Primer,  1791 

If  Faith  itself  has  different  dresses  worn 
What  wonder  modes  in  wit  should  take  their  turn. 

Pope  :  Essay  on  Man 


I 


CHAPTER  III 

1750-177^ 

Newbery's  Books  in  America 

N  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  Thursdays  were 
red-letter  days  for  the  residents  of  the  Quaker  town  of 
Philadelphia.  On  that  day  Thomas  Bradford  sent  forth  from 
the  "Sign  of  the  Bible"  in  Second  Street  the  weekly  number 
of  the  "  Pennsylvania  Journal,"  and  upon  the  same  day  his 
rival  journalists,  Franklin  and  Hall,  issued  the  "Pennsyl- 
vania Gazette." 

On  Thursday,  the  fifteenth  of  November,  seventeen  hun- 
dred and  fifty,  Old  Style,  the  good  people  of  the  town  took 
up  their  newspapers  with  doubtless  a  feeling  of  comfortable 
anticipation,  as  they  drew  their  chairs  to  the  fireside  and 
began  to  look  over  the  local  occurrences  of  the  past  week,  the 
"freshest  foreign  advices,"  and  the  various  bits  of  information 
that  had  filtered  slowly  from  the  northern  and  more  southern 
provinces. 

On  this  particular  evening  the  subscribers  to  both  news- 
papers found  a  trifle  more  news  in  the  "Journal,"  but  in 
each  paper  the  same  domestic  items  of  interest,  somewhat 
differently  worded.  The  latest  news  from  Boston  was  that 
of  November  fifth,  from  New  York,  November  eighth,  the 
Annapolis  item  was  dated  Odober  tenth,  and  the  few  lines 
from  London  had  been  written  in  August. 

The  "Gazette  "  (a  larger  sheet  than  the  "Journal")  occa- 
sionally had  upon  its  first  page  some  timely  article  of  political 
or  local  interest.  But  more  frequently  there  appeared  in  its 

[59  ] 


NJ 


Forgotten  Booh  of  the 

first  column  an  effusion  of  no  local  color,  but  full  of  senti- 
mental or  moral  refledions.  In  this  day's  issue  there  was  a  long 
letter,  dated  New  York,  from  one  who  claimed  to  be  "  Beauty's 
Votary."  This  expressed  the  writer's  disappointment  that  an 
interesting  "  Piece  "  inserted  in  the  "  Gazette  "  a  fortnight  ear- 
lier had  presented  in  its  conclusion  "an  unexpected  shocking 
Image."  The  shock  to  the  writer  it  appears  was  the  greater, 
because  the  beginning  of  the  article  had,  he  thought,  promised 
a  strong  contrast  between  "  Furious  Rage  in  our  rough  Sex, 
and  Gentle  mildness  adorn'd  with  Beauty's  charms  in  the 
other."  The  rest  of  the  letter  was  an  apostrophe  to  the  fair 
sex  in  the  sentimental  and  florid  language  of  the  period. 

To  the  women,  we  imagine,  this  letter  was  more  accept- 
able than  to  the  men,  who  found  the  shipping  news  more  to 
their  taste,  and  noted  with  pleasure  the  arrival  of  the  ship 
Carolina  and  the  Snow  Strong,  which  brought  cargoes  valu- 
able for  their  various  industries. 

Advertisements  filled  a  number  of  columns.  Among  them 
was  one  so  novel  in  its  charade r  that  it  must  have  caught  the 
eye  of  all  readers.  The  middle  column  on  the  second  page 
was  devoted  almost  entirely  to  an  announcement  that  John 
Newbery  had  for  "Sale  to  Schoolmasters,  Shopkeepers,  &c, 
who  buy  in  quantities  to  sell  again,"  "The  Museum,"  "A  new 
French  Primer,"  "The  Royal  Battledore,"  and  "The  Pretty 
Book  for  Children."  This  notice — a  reduced  fac-simile  of 
which  is  given — made  Newbery's  debut  in  Philadelphia;  and 
it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  but  a  short  period  had  elapsed 
since  his  first  book  had  been  printed  in  England. 

Franklin  had  doubtless  heard  of  the  publisher  in  St.  Paul's 

[60] 


P^AtMfUSEVM   for   young   Gint;  _ 

Or,  A  pri»«ieTcTo»forliti:lc:MAiT*Mwi*Mi«»«» 
Containing  a  Vaxietf  «rf  ufe.ul  Subjcd»  }  and  in  farticvikr, 

I.  Dircftion*  for  reading  with  ElcKjurncc  and  Ptopricty. 

II.  The  anticnt  and  ^t>nf  State  of  Crtat  Britaim  j  with  a cotnp«n- 
dicus  Hiftory  of  Sn^tland. 

ni.  An  Account  of  the  folar  Sjflcm.  , 

IV.  Hift..:ki<l  and  Geogiaphical  Uticription  of  the  feveral  Coim-  . 
tries  iji  ih«  World  ;  with  the  Manners,  Cufioms,  and  Habit*  of  • 
the  IVoi-lr. 

V.  An  Aico'  rt  of  the  Arts  and  S>:iences. 


^ 


R.;!'-i  I  ir  iJthsvio'ir 
VJI.   AiK    .    to  ;r<-ng  Perfoni  on  their  entering  upon  the  VTorldi.? 
^_     wiir. /h  r  Riilt;  cf  Religion  and  Morality. 
[Vlll,  TiU'?ot  Weghtsand  Mefllures. 

IX.  F."' [)i.in.iti"n  of  Abhri^ia'ions  uT-d  in  Words  and  Datfi. 

X.  A  U(ft-.?r.on  of  frejh:iv/hf-^}i>6ry,  St.  PmuI'}  Churtb ;  with* 
t!ie75i  .",  .:nd  Motimr.irt  in  Lodsm. 

XI.  1  b"  r..'  n  W.,yirs  ot  the  World. 

;'Xii.   Pi   '^>v*^  and  L>elcrirt;<)n  ot   tl>e  turning  Mountain. 
I  XIH.  DMr./Vv'ords  and' Behaviour  of  great  Mm,  when  juft  quit- 
ting the  i)ti<^c  cf  Life ;  with  many  other  ufefu!  Pirtitulars,  all 
in  I  plaiti  familiar  Way  for  Youthof  both  Sexes. 
Intirfpetfed  with  LettV.rs,  TAtes.  and  F.ablh,  for  Amufe- 
R  n-.cit  mi  Inftruftion,  and  illustmted  with  Cuts. 

f  (Being  a  S  tond  Volume  to  the  Pret/y  Bosk  isr  Ckildren.) 

Londcn,  prin'cd  for  J.  Hodges,  an  the  Bridge;  J.  Ntwbciry.ia 
St.  FjiuI's  Churth-yard,  and  B.  Coliinsj  in  SaJifturj. 

,  Laieh  TuhhjVi,  hung  a  vtry  pro^r  Btci  fur  Children,  or  fjng 
Pcifi.s  ti  M  art  lettrr.iig  French,  (Price  S:X  Ptmt,  tieMly  tturj, 
at:!  ai'cr-:' d 'luHh  Cuts,  ,  ■ 

A  Ae^v  F^KvcH  PRIMER}  Or,  ALPHABET  ROYAL: 

ou    GUIDE    Commode  &  agtcable 

Dans    L  •  A  R  T     D  E     LIRE, 

Poar  fcrvJr  d'liitrodndlion' 
I  Au    CixcLx  Des    SciiNcEi 

,  Publie   pat   4   U   T   0    R    I   r  E. 

I  A  I^'n.'rfs,  (xiur  J.  Kf^nben',  a  i'sufeignedela  Bible  &  du  So* 

I      Icil,  C.met-ere  de   .S.    PavU;  &'  B.  IToUins,  a  Saliftury.     An  Al- 
b   lowance   will  b;  made  on  both  the  above  Books,  to  thofe  that  buy 
P     them  by  the  Dozen  to  fell  again. 
[  '    i?y     A,  U  T  O  R  I  T  Y. 

\      Let:'-,  p^rijh^d  in  London,  for  the  Ufe  of  Sdotls  ari private  ft- 
•  «,i  I'i,  rnd  numbly  addtefs'd  to  the  Parc-n.'.',  Cuardiam,  CovtrntJ- 

j         ft!,     clool-Mafitn,  &V.  in  Great-Britain  and  Ireland,  tAx. 
i       ^^-     R    O    Y    A    L      B    A    T    T    L   E    D    O    R   E  t'., 
,  o  «>  •« 

:  FIRSTTBOOK/«.rCHIlr©REN: 

BEING  the  Alphaitt,  or  Twenty-four  Letters,  Great  and 
Small,  l.iid  dov/n  ia  •  plain,  cafy,  and  entertaining  Manner, 
f  in  en".,  rio  induce  Children  to  learn  their  Letters;  together,  with  the 
^  CcKhic  Letters,  the  firft  Syllablcj,  Lord's  Prayer,  Figures,  &e. 
f  Ai!or;.M  vijth  Tivtnty-fmtr  Cats,  ajid  Explanations  to  each,  adapted 
,  to  the  Capacities  even  of  Children  who  h»ve  bat  juft  leam'd  t(» 
J  fpeak.  Neatly  BounH,  Gilt  and  Glaz'd,  Price  fl«^  Twa-Af**. 
4  (After  which  the  next  proper  Booic  for  Children  kj 

Ti.5  R  O  Y  A  L  P  R  I  M  E  Rj 
Or,  mEasy  fl»</PI.^A5A^TGulD«r»fi<^  ART»/READINC. 
t  TNTERSPEXSED  with  a  gieat  variety  of  pleafant  and  dircrt- 
8  A  '"g  Stories,  witlv  fuitahle  Morals  and  Reflexions  ;  which  are 
\f  convc,  'i?  '.3  th^ir  tsndet  Minds  by  a  Kumbet  of  entertaining  and  te- 
j       ligio'is  i;.n;.-,f:o!n. 

I  Ciii^  tn  '.;Ue  ter.;!cr  OsaVrj  take  the  Bow, 

g  Aj'.ri  as  tl.ey  firft  are  faihion'd  always  grow,  D»rii»M, 

^      Embelliilied  with  Txueiitj-jtvin  Cuts,  and  neatly  Bound  and  Gilt* 
^  '       Price  ctly  Tbm-penct. 

(The  next  Booic  to  be  Isam'd  after  the  Primer  is) 
Tit    PRETTY     B  O  O  K    jftr   C  H  I  L  D  R  E  N : 
tttbt  En« 


Or,  An  Easy  Gitidk  , 


■iOtlSK    TONGI 


-  CO  well  adapted  toUicir  Capacities,  that  it  fuUy  anfwers  the  End 
7  ^  of  a  Child's  Guide,  Spelling  Books,  Pfalter,  and  Kiftory  Book, 
y  Defign'd  for  the  etfy  Inlintdjon  of  thofe  that  cannot  read,  as  wcU 
r;  as  for  the  Entertainment  of  tlwfc  that  can.     And  confiAs  of,  ift. 

-  The  Alphabet  difpos'i  in  Squares,  ad.  The  Alptdet  in  diifereot 
e  Charflfun,  3d.  The  Vmieh  and  Conjaruints.  4th.  Eafy  Syllahlut 
5  and  Words  of  one,  two,  and  three  Syllables.  5th.  Eafy  LtJfsiHj 
y  Scripturt-Hiftories,  FaWles,  Stories,  Moral  and  Religious  Precepts, 
,r  Proverbs,  Maxims,  Riddles,  Verfes,  Numbers,  Jeib,  &c._  6th. 
;r  Dialogues,  Prayers,  Graces,  ©"r.  The  jourth  Edition,  wrote  in 
e  a  familiar  eafy  Style.  Adom'd  with  Tli^^ecn  Cuts,  and  neatly 
n  Bound  and  Gilt ;  and  is  the  cheap«ft  as  well  as  the  mcft  ufefd 
y  Book  of  the  Kind  yet  pubUflied..     Price  oa^  Six-pence. 

;      - -Train  up  a  Child  in  tbt  Way  htjbwldgi,  andivbtv  bt  it  tild 

',  be  xaill  not  dipartfram  ir.                                  ^     K.  Solomon. 

,s  London  i  Printed  and  Sold  by  J.  New^eiry,  In  St.  Paul'sChurch- 

e  Yard^  J.  Hodges  on  the  Bridge  ;  and^.  Collins,  Bookfcll.-r,  on  the 

y  New  Canal  in  Salifbuxy.     Bjr  whoih  good  Allowance  Is  made  to  all 
Shop-kcepei?,  Schcol-Miyfters,  Q't .  wholipyQgnjttitlfe  to  fell  again. 


John  Newberfs  Advertisement 
of  Children's  Books 


l/ 


American  Nursery 

Churchyard  through  Mr.  Strahan,  his  correspondent,  who 
filled  orders  for  him  from  London  booksellers;  but  the  omis- 
sion of  the  customary  announcement  of  special  books  as  "to 
be  had  of  the  Printer  hereof"  points  to  Newbery's  enterprise 
in  seeking  a  wider  market  for  his  wares,  and  Franklin's  busi- 
ness ability  in  securing  the  advertisement,  as  it  is  not  repeated 
in  the  "Journal." 

This  "Museum"  was  probably  a  newer  book  than  the 
"Royal  Primer,"  "Battledore,"  and  "Pretty  Book,"  and  con- 
sequently was  more  fully  described;  and  oddly  enough,  all 
of  these  books  are  of  earlier  editions  than  Mr.  Welsh,  New- 
bery's biographer,  was  able  to  trace  in  England. 

"The  Museum"  still  clings  to  the  same  idea  which  per- 
vaded "The  Play-thing."  Its  second  title  reads:  "A  private 
Tutor  for  little  Masters  and  Misses."  The  contents  show 
that  this  purpose  was  carried  out.  It  tutored  them  by  giving 
directions  for  reading  with  eloquence  and  propriety;  by  pre- 
senting "  the  antient  and  present  State  of  Great  Britain  with 
a  compendious  History  oi  England ;''  by  instru6ting  them  in 
"  the  Solar  System,  geography.  Arts  and  Sciences  "  and  the  in- 
evitable "Rules  for  Behaviour,  Religion  and  Morality;"  and 
it  admonished  them  by  giving  the  "  Dying  Words  of  Great 
Men  when  just  quitting  the  Stage  of  Life."  As  a  museum  it 
included  descriptions  of  the  Seven  Wonders  of  the  World, 
Westminster  Abbey,  St.  Paul's  Churchyard,  and  the  Tower  of 
London,  with  an  ethnological  sedion  in  the  geographical  de- 
partment !  All  of  this  amusement  was  to  be  had  for  the  price 
of  "  One  Shilling,"  neatly  bound,  with,  thrown  in  as  good 
measure,  "Letters,  Tales  and  Fables  illustrated  with  Cuts." 

[6i  ] 


I 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

Such  a  library,  complete  in  itself,  was  a  fine  and  most  wel- 
come reward  for  scholarship,  when  prizes  were  awarded  at  the 
end  of  the  school  session. 

Importations  of  "Parcels  of  entertaining  books  for  chil- 
dren" had  earlier  in  the  year  been  announced  through  the 
columns  of  the  "Gazette;"  but  these  importations,  though 
they  show  familiarity  with  Newbery's  quaint  phraseology  in 
advertising,  probably  also  included  an  assortment  of  such 
little  chap-books  as  "Tom  Thumb,"  "Cinderella"  (from  the 
French  of  Monsieur  Perrault),  and  some  few  other  old  sto- 
ries which  the  children  had  long  since  appropriated  as  their 
own  property. 

In  1751  we  find  New  York  waking  up  to  the  apprecia- 
tion of  children's  books.  There  J.  Waddell  and  James 
Parker  were  apparently  the  pioneers  in  bringing  to  public 
notice  the  fad  that  they  had  for  sale  little  novel-books  in 
addition  to  horn-books  and  primers;  and  moreover  the 
"Weekly  Post-Boy"  advertised  that  these  booksellers  had 
"Pretty  Books  for  little  Masters  and  Misses"  (clearly  a 
Newbery  imitation),  "with  Blank  Flourished  Christmas 
pieces  for  Scholars." 

But  as  yet  even  Franklin  had  hardly  been  convinced  that 
the  old  way  of  imparting  knowledge  was  not  superior  to  the 
then  modern  combination  of  amusement  and  instrudion; 
therefore,  although  with  his  partner,  David  Hall,  he  without 
doubt  sold  such  children's  books  as  were  available,  for  his 
daughter  Sally,  aged  seven,  he  had  other  views.  At  his  re- 
quest his  wife,  in  December,  1751,  wrote  the  following  letter 
to  William  Strahan: 

[  62  ] 


1/ 


American  Nursery 

Madam, — I  am  ordered  by  my  Master  to  write  for  him 
Books  for  Sally  Franklin.  I  am  in  Hopes  She  will  be  abel 
to  write  for  herself  by  the  Spring. 

8  Sets  of  the  Perceptor  best  Edit. 

8  Doz.  of  Croxall's  Fables. 

3  Doz.  of  Bishop  Kenns  Manual  for  Winchester  School. 

1  Doz.  Familiar  Forms,  Latin  and  Eng. 
Ainsworth's  Didionaries,  4  best  Edit. 

2  Doz.  Seled  Tales  and  Fables. 

2  Doz.  Costalio's  Test. 

Cole's  Didionarys  Latin  and  Eng.  6  a  half  doz. 

3  Doz.  of  Clarke's  Cordery.  1  Boyle's  Pliny  2  vols.  8vo. 
6  Sets  of  Nature  displayed  in  7  vols.  i2mo. 

One  good  Quarto  Bibel  with  Cudes  bound  in  calfe. 

1  Penrilla.  1  Art  of  making  Common  Salt.  By  Browning. 

My  Dafter  gives  her  duty  to  Mr.  Stroyhan  and  his  Lady, 
and  her  compliments  to  Master  Billy  and  all  his  brothers 
and  Sisters.  .  .  . 

Your  humbel  Servant 

Deborah  Franklin 

Little  Sally  Franklin  could  not  have  needed  eight  dozen 
copies  of  Aesop's  Fables,  nor  four  Ainsworth's  Didionaries, 
so  it  is  probable  that  Deborah  Franklin's  far  from  ready  pen 
put  down  the  book  order  for  the  spring,  and  that  Sally  her- 
self was  only  to  be  supplied  with  the  "Perceptor,"  the  "Fa- 
bles," and  the  "one  good  Quarto  Bibel." 

As  far  as  it  is  now  possible  to  judge,  the  people  of  the 

[63] 


\j  Forgotten  Books  of  the 

towns  soon  learned  the  value  of  Newbery's  little  nursery 
tales,  and  after  seventeen  hundred  and  fifty-five,  when  most 
of  his  books  were  written  and  published,  they  rapidly 
gained  a  place  on  the  family  book-shelves  in  America. 

By  seventeen  hundred  and  sixty  Hugh  Gaine,  printer, 
publisher,  patent  medicine  seller,  and  employment  agent  for 
New  York,  was  importing  pradically  all  the  Englishman's 
juvenile  publications  then  for  sale.  At  the  "Bible  and  Crown," 
where  Gaine  printed  the  "Weekly  Mercury,"  could  be 
bought,  wholesale  and  retail,  such  books  as,  "Poems  for 
Children  Three  Feet  High,"  "Tommy  Trapwit,"  "Trip's 
Book  of  Pidures,"  "The  New  Year's  Gift,"  "The  Christmas 
Box,"  etc. 

Gaine  himself  was  a  prominent  printer  in  New  York  in 
the  latter  half  of  the  eighteenth  century.  Until  the  Revolu- 
tion his  shop  was  a  favorite  one  and  well  patronized.  But 
when  the  hostilities  began,  the  condition  of  his  pocket  seems 
to  have  regulated  his  sympathies,  and  he  was  by  turn  Whig 
and  Tory  according  to  the  possession  of  New  York  by  so- 
called  Rebels,  or  King's  Servants.  When  the  British  army 
evacuated  New  York,  Gaine,  wishing  to  keep  up  his  trade, 
dropped  the  "Crown"  from  his  sign.  Among  the  enthusiastic 
patriots  this  ruse  had  scant  success.  In  Freneau's  political 
satire  of  the  bookseller,  the  first  verse  gives  a  strong  sugges- 
tion of  the  ridicule  to  follow : 

"And  first,  he  was,  in  his  own  representation, 
A  printer,  once  of  good  reputation. 
He  dwelt  in  the  street  called  Hanover-Square, 
(You  '11  know  where  it  is  if  you  ever  was  there 

[64] 


American  Nursery 

Next  door  to  the  dwelling  of  Mr.  Brownjohn, 
Who  now  to  the  drug-shop  of  Pluto  is  gone) 
But  what  do  I  say  —  who  e'er  came  to  town. 
And  knew  not  Hugh  Gaine  at  the  Bible  and  Crown" 

A  contemporary  of,  and  rival  bookseller  to,  Gaine  in  seven- 
teen hundred  and  sixty  was  James  Rivington.  Mr.  Hildeburn 
has  given  Rivington  a  rather  unenviable  reputation;  still,  as 
he  occasionally  printed  (?)  a  child's  book,  Mr.  Hildeburn's 
remarks  are  quoted: 

"Until  the  advent  of  Rivington  it  was  generally  possible 
to  tell  from  an  American  Bookseller's  advertisement  in  the 
current  newspapers  whether  the  work  offered  for  sale  was 
printed  in  America  or  England.  But  the  books  he  received 
in  every  fresh  invoice  from  London  were  'just  published  by 
James  Rivington'  and  this  form  was  speedily  adopted  by 
other  booksellers,  so  that  after  1761  the  advertisement  of 
books  is  no  longer  a  guide  to  the  issues  of  the  colonial 
press." 

Although  Rivington  did  not  set  up  a  press  until  about 
seventeen  hundred  and  seventy-three, — according  to  Mr. 
Hildeburn, — he  had  a  book-shop  much  earlier.  Here  he 
probably  reprinted  the  title-page  and  then  put  an  elaborate 
notice  in  the  "Weekly  Mercury"  for  November  17,  1760, 
as  follows: 

JAMES  RIVINGTON 
Bookseller  and  Stationer  from  London  over  against  the  Golden 
Key  in  Hanover  Square. 

This  day  is  published,  Price,  seven  Shillings,  and  sold  by  the  said 
James  Rivington,  adorned  with  two  hundred  Pidures 

[65  ] 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

THE 
FABLES  OF  AESOP 

with  a  moral  to  each  Fable  in  Verse,  and  an  Application  in  Prose, 
intended  for  the  Use  of  the  youngest  of  readers,  and  proper  to  be  put 
into  the  hands  of  Children,  immediately  after  they  have  done  with  the 
Spelling-Book,  it  being  adapted  to  their  tender  Capacities,  the  Fables 
are  related  in  a  short  and  lively  Manner,  and  they  are  recommended 
to  all  those  who  are  concerned  in  the  education  of  Children.  This  is 
an  entire  new  Work,  elegantly  printed  and  ornamented  with  much 
better  Cuts  than  any  other  Edition  of  Aesop's  Fables.  Be  pleased  to 
ask  for  DRAPER'S  AESOP. 

From  such  records  of  parents'  care  as  are  given  in  Mrs.  Charles 
Pinckney's  letters  to  her  husband's  agent  in  London,  and 
Josiah  Quincy's  reminiscences  of  his  early  training,  it  seems 
very  evident  that  John  Locke's  advice  in  "Thoughts  on  Edu- 
cation" was  read  and  followed  at  this  time  in  the  American 
colonies.  Therefore,  in  accordance  with  the  bachelor  philoso- 
pher's theory  as  to  reading-matter  for  little  children,  the  book- 
seller recommended  the  "Fables"  to  "those  concerned  in  the 
education  of  children."  It  is  at  least  a  happy  coincidence  that 
one  of  the  earliest  books  (as  far  as  is  known  to  the  writer), 
aside  from  school  and  religious  books,  issued  as  published  in 
America  for  children,  should  have  been  the  one  Locke  had 
so  heartily  recommended.  This  is  what  he  had  said  many 
years  previously:  "When  by  these  gentle  ways  he  begins  to 
read^  some  easy  pleasant  Book,  suited  to  his  capacities,  should 
be  put  into  his  Hands,  wherein  the  Entertainment  that  he 
finds  might  draw  him  on,  and  reward  his  Pains  in  Reading, 
and  yet  not  such  as  will  fill  his  head  with  perfedly  useless 
|Trumpery,  or  lay  the  Principles  of  Vice  and  Folly.  To  this 

[66] 


y 


American  Nursery 

Purpose,  I  think  Aesop's  Fables  the  best  which  being  Stories 
apt  to  deHght  and  entertain  a  child,  may  yet  afford  useful  Re- 

fledions  to  a  grown  Man If  his  Aesop  has  pidures  in  it, 

it  will  entertain  him  much  better  and  encourage  him  to  read." 
The  two  hundred  pidures  in  Rivington's  edition  made  it,  of 
course,  high  priced  in  comparison  with  Newbery's  books:  but 
New  York  then  contained  many  families  well  able  to  afford 
this  outlay  to  secure  such  an  acquisition  to  the  family  library. 

Hugh  Gaine  at  this  time,  as  a  rule,  received  each  year  two 
shipments  of  books,  among  which  were  usually  some  for  chil- 
dren, yet  about  1 762  he  began  to  try  his  own  hand  at  reprint- 
ing Newbery's  now  famous  little  duodecimos.  * 

In  that  year  we  find  an  announcement  through  the  "New 
York  Mercury"  that  he  had  himself  printed  "Divers  divert- 
ing books  for  infants."  The  following  list  gives  some  idea  of 
their  charader: 

Just  published  by  Hugh  Gaine 

A  pretty  Book  for  Children;  Or  an  Easy  Guide  to  the  English  Tongue. 

The  private  Tutor  for  little  Masters  and  Misses. 

Food  for  the  Mind;  or  a  new  Riddle  Book  compiled  for  the  use  of 
little  Good  Boys  and  Girls  in  America.  By  Jack  the  Giant-Killer, 
Esq. 

A  Colledion  of  Pretty  Poems,  by  Tommy  Tag,  Esq. 

Aesop's  Fables  in  Verse,  with  the  Conversation  of  Beasts  and  Birds, 
at  their  several  Meetings.  By  Woglog  the  great  Giant. 

A  Little  pretty  Book,  intended  for  the  Amusement  of  Little  Master 
Tommy  and  pretty  Miss  Polly,  with  two  Letters  from  Jack  the 
Giant-Killer. 

Be  Merry  and  Wise :  Or  the  Cream  of  the  Jests.  By  Tommy  Trap- 
wit,  Esq. 

[67  ] 


I. 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

The  title  of  "Food  for  the  Mind"  is  of  special  importance, 
since  in  it  Gaine  made  a  clever  alteration  by  inserting  the 
words  "  Good  Boys  and  Girls  in  America''  The  colonials  were 
already  beginning  to  feel  a  pride  in  the  fa6t  of  belonging  to 
the  new  country,  America,  and  therefore  Gaine  shrewdly 
changed  the  English  title  to  one  more  likely  to  induce  people 
to  purchase. 

Gaine  and  Rivington  alone  have  left  records  of  printing 
children's  story-books  in  the  town  of  New  York  before  the 
Revolution;  but  before  they  began  to  print,  other  book- 
sellers advertised  their  invoices  of  books.  In  1759  Garrat 
Noel,  a  Dutchman,  had  announced  that  he  had  "the  very 
prettiest  gilt  Books  for  little  Masters  and  Misses  that  ever 
were  invented,  full  of  wit  and  wisdom,  at  the  surprising  low 
Price  of  only  one  Shilling  each  finely  bound  and  adorned 
with  a  number  of  curious  Cuts."  By  1762  Noel  had  increased 
his  stock  and  placed  a  somewhat  larger  advertisement  in 
the  "Mercury  "  of  December  27.  The  late  arrival  of  his  goods 
may  have  been  responsible  for  the  bargains  he  offered  at  this 
holiday  sale. 

GARRAT  NOEL  Begs  Leave  to  Inform  the  Public,  that 
according  to  his  Annual  Custom,  he  has  provided  a  very  large 
Assortment  of  Books  for  Entertainment  and  Improvement  of 
Touth,  in  Reading,  Writing,  Cyphering,  and  Drawing,  as 
Proper  Presents  at  Christmas  and  New- Year. 

The  following  Small,  but  improving  Histories,  are  sold  at  Two  Shil- 
lings, each,  neatly  bound  in  red,  and  adorn'd  with  Cuts. 
Jl^^ Those  who  buy  Six,  shall  have  a  Seventh  Gratis,  and  buying 

[68] 


American  Nursery 

only  Three,,  they  shall  have  a  present  of  a  fine  large  Copper-Plate 

Christmas  Piece:  [Z/V/  of  histories  follows.'^ 

The  following  neat  Gilt  Books,  very  instrudlive  and  Amusing  being 

full  of  Pi6lures,  are  sold  at  Eighteen  Pence  each. 

Fables  in  Verse  and  Prose,  with  the  Conversation  of  Birds  &  Beasts 
at  their  several  meetings,  Routs  and  Assemblies  for  the  Improve- 
ment of  Old  and  Young,  etc. 

To-day  none  of  these  gay  little  volumes  sold  in  New  York 
are  to  be  seen.  The  inherent  faculty  of  children  for  losing 
and  destroying  books,  coupled  with  the  perishable  nature 
of  these  toy  volumes,  has  rendered  the  children's  treasures 
of  seventeen  hundred  and  sixty-two  a  great  rarity.  The  His- 
torical Society  of  Pennsylvania  is  the  fortunate  possessor  of 
one  much  prized  story-book  printed  in  that  year;  but  though 
it  is  at  present  in  the  Quaker  City,  a  printer  of  Boston  was 
responsible  for  its  produdion. 

In  Isaiah  Thomas's  recolledions  of  the  early  Boston 
printers,  he  described  Zechariah  Fowle,  with  whom  he 
served  his  apprenticeship,  and  Samuel  Draper,  Fowle's 
partner.  These  men,  about  seventeen  hundred  and  fifty- 
seven,  took  a  house  in  Marlborough  Street.  Here,  according 
to  Thomas,  "they  printed  and  opened  a  shop.  They  kept  a 
great  supply  of  ballads,  and  small  pamphlets  for  book  ped- 
lars, of  whom  there  were  many  at  that  time.  Fowle  was  bred 
to  the  business,  but  he  was  an  indifferent  hand  at  the  press, 
and  much  worse  at  the  case." 

This  description  of  the  printer's  ability  is  borne  out  by  the 
j  "New-Gift  for  Children,"  printed  by  this  firm.  It  is  proba- 
!  bly  the  oldest  story-book  bearing  an  American  imprint  now 

[69] 


\i 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

in  existence,  and  for  this  reason  merits  description,  although 
its  contents  can  be  seen  in  the  pidure  of  the  title-page. 
Brown  with  age  and  like  all  chap-books  without  a  cover 
—  for  it  was  Newbery  who  introduced  this  more  durable 
and  attradive  feature  —  all  sizes  in  type  were  used  to  print 
its  fifteen  stories.  The  stories  in  themselves  were  not  new, 
as  it  is  called  the  "Fourth  edition."  It  is  possible  that  they 
were  taken  from  the  Banbury  chap-books,  which  also  often 
copied  Newbery's  juvenile  library,  as  the  list  of  his  publi- 
cations compiled  by  Mr.  Charles  Welsh  does  not  contain 
this  title. 

The  loyalty  of  the  Boston  printers  found  expression  on 
the  third  page  by  a  very  black  cut  of  King  George  the 
Third,  who  appears  rather  puzzled  and  not  a  little  unhappy; 
but  it  found  favor  with  customers,  for  as  yet  the  colonials 
thought  their  king  "no  man  of  blood."  On  turning  the  page 
Queen  Charlotte  looks  out  with  goggle-eyes,  curls,  and  a  row 
of  beads  about  the  size  of  pebbles  around  her  thick  neck.  The 
pi6ture  seems  to  be  a  copy  from  some  miniature  of  the  queen, 
as  an  oval  frame  with  a  crown  surmounting  it  encircles  the 
portrait.  The  stories  are  so  much  better  than  some  that  were 
written  even  after  the  nineteenth  century,  that  extrads  from 
them  are  worth  reading.  The  third  tale,  called  "  The  Gener- 
osity of  Confessing  a  Fault,"  begins  as  follows: 

"Miss  Fanny  Goodwill  was  one  of  the  prettiest  children 
that  ever  was  seen;  her  temper  was  as  sweet  as  her  looks,  and 
her  behavior  so  genteel  and  obhging  that  everybody  admir'd 
her;  for  nobody  can  help  loving  good  children,  any  more  than 
they  can  help  being  angry  with  those  that  are  naughty.  It  is 

[70] 


fg  New  Gift  for  Children.  %i 

Containing  ^ 

Delightful  and  Entertaining  ^ 

stories! 

In  riP'O  PARTS  i  ^ 

VIZ.  ii 

1.  The  Dutiful  Child.  % 

2.  The  Thief.  ^ 

3.  The  Generofity  of  confcfling  a  Fault.    ^ 

4.  The  two  good  Fiiends.  ^ 

5.  The  R'^wards  of  Virtue.  ^ 

SECOND   PART.  H 

6.  The  Good  Boy.  ^ 

7.  The  Good  Girl.  % 

8.  1  he  Proud  Play-mate.  S 

9.  The  good  Girl  and  ihe  pretty  Girl.  ^ 

10.  '\  he  meanly  proud  Girl.  ^ 

11.  TheTrifler.  || 

12.  The  undutiful  Child.  c^ 

13.  The  loft  Child.  p 

14.  The  Advantages  of  Truth.  ^ 

1 5.  Of  Tommy  Fido.  ^ 


r/;^  FOURTH  EDITION. 
AdornM  with  CUTS. 


^  Bofton  ;  New- England  ;  Printed  and  Sold  «^ 
fg  by  Fovjle  &  X)r^^^r,.inMarlboro% Street,  w? 
^  M,DCC,LXIT.  Il 

^itle-f  age  from  "-^he  New  Gift  for 
Children  " 


American  Nursery 

no  wonder  then  that  her  papa  and  mama  lov'd  her  dearly,  they 
took  a  great  deal  of  pains  to  improve  her  mind  so  that  before 
she  was  seven  years  old,  she  could  read,  and  talk,  and  work 
like  a  little  woman.  One  day  as  her  papa  was  sitting  by  the 
fire,  he  set  her  upon  his  knees,  kiss'd  her,  and  told  her  how 
very  much  he  lov'd  her;  and  then  smiling,  and  taking  hold  of 
her  hand,  My  dear  Fanny,  said  he,  take  care  never  to  tell  a  lye, 
and  then  I  shall  always  love  you  as  well  as  I  do  now.  You  or 
I  may  be  guilty  of  a  fault;  but  there  is  something  noble  and 
generous  in  owning  our  errors,  and  striving  to  mend  them; 
but  a  lye  more  than  doubles  the  fault,  and  when  it  is  found 
out,  makes  the  lyar  appear  mean  and  contemptible.  .  .  . 
Thus,  my  dear,  the  lyar  is  a  wretch,  whom  nobody  trusts, 
nobody  regards,  nobody  pities.  Indeed  papa,  said  Miss  Fanny ^ 
I  would  not  be  such  a  creature  for  all  the  world.  You  are 
very  good,  my  little  charmer^  said  her  papa  and  kiss'd  her 
again." 

The  inevitable  temptation  came  when  Mis^  Fanny  went  on 
"a  visit  to  a  Miss  in  the  neighborhood;  her  mama  ordered  her 
to  be  home  at  eight  o'clock;  but  she  was  engag'd  at  play,  and 
did  not  mind  how  the  time  pass'd,  so  that  she  stay'd  till  near 
ten;  and  then  her  mama  sent  for  her."  The  child  of  course 
was  frightened  by  the  lateness  of  the  hour,  and  the  maid — 
who  appears  in  the  illustration  with  cocked  hat  and  musket! 
— tried  to  calm  her  fears  with  the  advice  to  "tell  her  mama 
that  the  Miss  she  went  to  see  had  taken  her  out."  ''^No  Mary^ 
said  Miss  Fanny ^  wiping  her  pretty  eyes,  I  am  above  a  lye ; " 
and  she  rehearsed  for  the  benefit  of  the  maid  her  father's 
admonition. 

[71] 


J 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

Story  IX  tells  of  the  Good  Girl  and  Pretty  Girl.  In  this  the 
pretty  child  had  bright  eyes  and  pretty  plump  cheeks  and  was 
much  admired.  She,  however,  was  a  meanly  proud  girl,  and 
so  naughty  as  not  to  want  to  grow  wiser,  but  applied  to  those 
good  people  who  happened  to  be  less  favored  in  looks  such 
terms  as  "bandy-legs,  crump,  and  all  such  naughty  names." 
The  good  sister  "could  read  before  the  pretty  miss  could  tell  a 
letter;  and  though  her  shape  was  not  so  genteel  her  behavior 
was  a  great  deal  more  so.  But  alas !  the  pretty  creature  fell  sick 
of  the  small-pox,  and  all  her  beauty  vanished."  Thus  in  the 
eighteenth  century  was  the  adage  "Beauty  is  but  skin  deep" 
brought  to  bear  upon  condud. 

On  the  last  page  is  a  cut  of  "Louisburg  demoHshed,"  which 
had  served  its  time  already  upon  almanacs,  but  the  eight  cuts 
were  undoubtedly  made  especially  for  children.  Moreover, 
since  they  do  not  altogether  illustrate  the  various  stories,  they 
are  good  proof  that  similar  chap-book  tales  were  printed  by 
Fowle  and  Draper  for  little  ones  before  the  War  of  Inde- 
pendence. 

In  the  southern  provinces  the  sea  afforded  better  trans- 
portation facilities  for  household  necessities  and  luxuries  than 
the  few  post-lines  from  the  north  could  offer.  Bills  of  exchange 
could  be  drawn  against  London,  to  be  paid  by  the  profits  of 
the  tobacco  crops,  a  safer  method  of  payment  than  any  that 
then  existed  between  the  northern  and  southern  towns.  In  the 
regular  orders  sent  by  George  Washington  to  Robert  Carey 
in  London,  twice  we  find  mention  of  the  children's  needs  and 
wishes.  In  the  very  first  invoice  of  goods  to  be  shipped  to 
Washington  after  his  marriage  with  Mrs.  Custis  in  seventeen 

[72] 


American  Nursery 

hundred  and  fifty-nine,  he  ordered  "lo  ShiUings  worth  of 
Toys,  6  Httle  books  for  children  beginning  to  read  and  a  fash- 
ionable dressed  baby  to  cost  lo  Shillings;"  and  again  later  in 
ordering  clothes,  "Toys,  Sugar,  Images  and  Comfits"  for  his 
step-children  he  added:  "Books  according  to  the  enclosed  list 
to  be  charged  equally  to  John  Parke  Custis  and  Martha  Parke 
Custis." 

But  in  Boston  the  people  bought  diredly  from  the  book- 
sellers, of  whom  there  were  already  many.  One  of  these  was 
John  Mein,  who  played  a  part  in  the  historic  Non-Importa- 
tion Agreement.  In  seventeen  hundred  and  fifty  this  Eng- 
lishman had  opened  in  King  Street  a  shop  which  he  called  the 
"London  Book-Store."  Here  he  sold  many  imported  books, 
and  in  seventeen  hundred  and  sixty-five,  when  the  popula- 
tion of  Boston  numbered  some  twenty  thousand,  he  started 
the  "earliest  circulating  library,  advertised  to  contain  ten 
thousand  volumes."*  This  shop  was  both  famous  and  notori- 
ous :  famous  because  of  its  "  Very  Grand  Assortment  of  the 
most  modern  Books;"  notorious  because  of  the  accusations 
made  against  its  owner  when  the  colonials,  aroused  by  the 
adion  of  Parliament,  passed  the  Non-Importation  Agreement. 

Before  the  excitement  had  culminated  in  this  "  Agreement," 
John  Mein's  lists  of  importations  show  that  the  children's 
pleasure  had  not  been  forgotten,  and  after  it  their  books 
singularly  enough  were  conneded  with  this  historic  adion. 

In  1766,  in  the  "Boston  Evening  Post,"  we  find  Mein's 
announcement  that "  Little  Books  with  Pidures  for  Children  " 
could  be  purchased  at  the  London  Book-Store;  in  December, 

*  Winsor,  Memorial  History  of  Boston,  vol.  ii,  p.  xix. 

[  73  ] 


Forgotten  Booh  of  the 

1767,  he  advertised  through  the  columns  of  the  "Boston 
Chronicle,"  among  other  books,  "in  every  branch  of  polite 
literature,"  a  "Great  Variety  of  entertaining  Books  for  Chil- 
dren, proper  for  presents  at  Christmas  or  New-year's  day  — 
Prices  from  Two  Coppers  to  Two  Shillings."  In  August  of 
the  following  year  Mein  gave  the  names  of  seven  of  New- ; 
bery's  famous  gilt  volumes,  as  "to  be  sold"  at  his  shop.  These 
"pretty  little  entertaining  and  instru6tive  Books"  were  "Giles 
Gingerbread,"  the  "Adventures  of  little  Tommy  Trip  with 
his  dog  JouLER,"  "Tommy  Trip's  Seled  Fables,"  and  "an 
excellent  Pastoral  Hymn,"  "  The  Famous  Tommy  Thumb's 
Little  Story-Book,"  "Leo,  the  Great  Giant,"  and  "Urax,  or 
the  Fair  Wanderer  —  price  eight  pence  lawful  money.  Avery 
interesting  tale  in  which  the  protection  of  the  Almighty  is  proved 
to  be  the  first  and  chief  support  of  the  Female  Sex."  Num- 
ber seven  in  the  list  was  the  story  of  the  "  Cruel  Giant  Bar- 
barico,"  and  it  is  one  of  this  edition  that  is  now  among  the 
rare  Americana  of  the  Boston  Public  Library.  The  imprint 
upon  its  title-page  coincides  with  Isaiah  Thomas's  statement 
that  though  "  Fleming  was  not  concerned  with  Mein  in  book- 
selling, several  books  were  printed  at  their  house  for  Mein." 
Its  date,  1768,  would  indicate  that  Mein  had  reproduced  one 
of  his  importations  to  which  allusion  has  already  been  made. 
The  book  in  marbled  covers,  time-worn  and  faded  now,  was 
sold  for  only"  six-pence  lawful"  when  new,  possibly  because 
it  lacked  illustrations. 

One  year  later,  when  the  Non-Importation  Agreement  had 
passed  and  was  rigorously  enforced  in  the  port  of  Boston, 
these  same  little  books  were  advertised  again  in  the  "Chroni- 

[  74] 


Miss  Fanny's  Maid 


American  Nursery 

cle"  of  December  4-7  under  the  large  caption,  Printed 
IN  America  and  to  be  sold  by  John  Mein.  Times  had  so 
changed  within  one  year's  space  that  even  a  child's  six-penny 
book  was  unpopular,  if  known  to  have  been  imported. 

Mein  was  among  those  accused  of  violating  the  "Agree- 
ment ; "  he  was  charged  with  the  importation  of  materials  for 
book-making.  In  a  November  number  of  the  "  Chronicle  " 
of  seventeen  hundred  and  sixty-nine,  Mein  published  an 
article  entitled  "A  State  of  the  Importation  from  Great 
Britain  into  the  Port  of  Boston  with  the  advertisement  of 
a  set  of  Men,  who  assume  to  themselves  The  Title  oi  ALL 
the  Well  Disposed  Merchants"  In  this  letter  the  London  Book- 
Store  proprietor  vigorously  defended  himself,  and  protested 
that  the  quantity  of  his  work  necessitated  some  importations 
not  procurable  in  Boston.  He  also  made  sarcastic  references 
to  other  men  whom  he  thought  the  cap  fitted  better  with 
less  excuse.  It  was  in  the  following  December  that  he  tried 
to  keep  this  trade  in  children's  books  by  his  apparently  patri- 
otic announcement  regarding  them.  His  protests  were  use- 
less. Already  in  disfavor  with  some  because  he  was  supposed 
to  print  books  in  America  but  used  a  London  imprint,  his 
popularity  waned ;  he  was  marked  as  a  loyalist,  and  there  was 
little  of  the  spirit  of  tolerance  for  such  in  that  hot-bed  of 
patriotism.  The  air  was  so  full  of  the  growing  differences 
between  the  colonials  and  the  king's  government,  that  in 
seventeen  hundred  and  seventy  Mein  closed  out  his  stock 
and  returned  to  England. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  patriotic  booksellers  did  not  fail  to 
ke  note  of  the  crystallization  of  public  opinion.  Robert  Bell 

[  75  ] 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

in  Philadelphia  appended  a  note  to  his  catalogue  of  books, 
I  stating  that  "The  Lovers  and  Pradisers  of  Patriotism  are 
j  requested  to  note  that  all  the  Books  in  this  Catalogue  are 
either  of  American  manufadure,  or  imported  before  the  Non- 
Importation  Agreement." 

The  supply  of  home-made  paper  was  of  course  limited. 
So  much  was  needed  to  circulate  among  the  colonies  pam- 
phlets dealing  with  the  injustice  of  the  king's  government 
toward  his  American  subjeds,  that  it  seems  remarkable  that 
any  juvenile  books  should  have  been  printed  in  those  stirring 
days  before  the  war  began.  It  is  rather  to  be  expeded  that, 
with  the  serious  turn  that  events  had  taken  and  the  consequent 
questions  that  had  arisen,  the  publications  of  the  American 
press  should  have  received  the  shadow  of  the  forthcoming 
trouble  —  a  shadow  sufficient  to  discourage  any  attempt  at 
humor  for  adult  or  child.  Evidence,  however,  points  to  the 
fad  that  humor  and  amusement  were  not  totally  lacking  in 
the  issues  of  the  press  of  at  least  one  printer  in  Boston,  John 
Boyle.  The  humorous  satire  produced  by  his  press  in  seven- 
teen hundred  and  seventy-five,  called  "The  First  Book  of  the 
American  Chronicles  of  the  Times,"  purported  to  set  forth 
the  state  of  political  affairs  during  the  troubles  "wherein  all 
our  calamities  are  seen  to  flow  from  the  fad  that  the  king 
had  set  up  for  our  worship  the  god  of  the  heathen — The  Tea 
Chest."  This  pamphlet  has  been  one  to  keep  the  name  of  John 
Boyle  among  the  prominent  printers  of  pre-Revolutionary 
days.  Additional  interest  accrues  for  this  reason  to  a  play- 
book  printed  by  Boyle — the  only  one  extant  of  this  decade 
known  to  the  writer. 

[  76] 


American  Nursery 

This  quaint  little  chap-book,  three  by  four  inches  in  size, 
was  issued  in  seventeen  hundred  and  seventy-one,  soon  after 
Boyle  had  set  up  his  printing  establishment  and  four  years 
before  the  publication  of  the  famous  pamphlet.  It  represents 
fully  the  standard  for  children's  literature  in  the  days  when 
Newbery's  tiny  classics  were  making  their  way  to  America, 
and  was  indeed  advertised  by  Mein  in  seventeen  hundred  and 
sixty-eight  among  the  list  of  books  "Printed  in  America."  Its 
title,  "The  Famous  Tommy  Thumb's  Little  Story-Book : 
Containing  his  Life  and  Adventures,"  has  rather  a  familiar 
sound,  but  its  contents  would  not  now  be  allowed  upon  any 
nursery  table.  Since  the  days  of  the  Anglo-Saxons,  Tom 
Thumb's  adventures  have  been  told  and  retold;  each  genera- 
tion has  given  to  the  rising  generation  the  version  thought 
proper  for  the  ears  of  children.  In  Boyle's  edition  this  method 
resulted  in  realism  pushed  to  the  extreme;  but  it  is  not  to  be 
denied  that  the  yellowed  pages  contain  the  wondrous  adven- 
tures and  hairbreadth  escapes  so  dear  to  the  small  boy  of  all 
time.  The  thrilling  incidents  were  further  enlivened,  moreover, 
by  cuts  called  by  the  printer  ^'' curious''  in  the  sense  of  very 
fine :  and  curious  they  are  to-day  because  of  the  crudeness  of 
their  execution  and  the  coarseness  of  their  design.  Neverthe- 
less, the  grotesque  charader  of  the  illustrations  was  altogether 
efFedive  in  impressing  upon  the  reader  the  doughty  deeds  of 
his  old  friend,  Tom  Thumb.  The  book  itself  shows  marks 
of  its  popularity,  and  of  the  hard  usage  to  which  it  was  sub- 
jected by  its  happy  owner,  who  was  not  critical  of  the  editor's 
freedom  of  speech. 

The  coarseness  permitted  in  a  nursery  favorite  makes  it 

[77] 


L 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

sufficiently  clear  that  the  standard  for  the  ideal  toy-book  of 
the  eighteenth  century  is  no  gauge  for  that  of  the  twentieth. 
Child-life  differed  in  many  particulars,  as  Mr.  Julian  Haw- 
thorne pointed  out  some  years  ago,  when  he  wrote  that  the 
children  of  the  eighteenth  century  "were  urged  to  grow  up 
almost  before  they  were  short-coated."  We  must  bear  this  in 
mind  in  turning  to  another  class  of  books  popular  with  adult 
and  child  alike  in  both  England  and  America  before  and  for 
some  years  after  the  Revolution. 

This  was  the  period  when  the  novel  in  the  hands  of  Rich- 
ardson, Fielding,  and  Smollett  was  assuming  hitherto  unsus- 
pe6ted  possibilities.  Allusion  must  be  made  to  some  of  the 
charaderistics  of  their  work,  since  their  style  undoubtedly 
affeded  juvenile  reading  and  the  tales  written  for  children. 

Taking  for  the  sake  of  convenience  the  novels  of  the  ear- 
liest of  this  group  of  men,  Samuel  Richardson,  as  a  starting- 
point,  we  find  in  Pamela  and  Mr.  Lovelace  types  of  char- 
a6ter  that  merge  from  the  Puritanical  concrete  examples 
of  virtue  and  vice  into  a  psychological  attempt  to  depid  the 
emotion  and  feeling  preceding  every  ad  of  heroine  and  vil- 
lain. Through  every  stage  of  the  story  the  author  still  clings 
to  the  long-established  precedent  of  giving  moral  and  reli- 
gious instrudion.  Afterwards,  when  Fielding  attempted  to 
parody  "Pamela,"  he  developed  the  novel  of  adventure  in 
high  and  low  life,  and  produced  "Joseph  Andrews."  He  then 
followed  this  with  the  charade r-study  represented  by  "Tom 
Jones,  Foundling."  Richardson  in  "Pamela"  had  aimed  to 
emphasize  virtue  as  in  the  end  prospering;  Fielding's  char- 
aders  rather  embody  the  principle  of  virtue  being  its  own 

[78] 


J 


American  Nursery 

reward  and  of  vice  bringing  its  own  punishment.  Smollett  in 
"  Humphrey  Clinker's  Adventures  "  brought  forth  fun  from 
English  surroundings  instead  of  seeking  for  the  hero  thrill- 
ing and  daring  deeds  in  foreign  countries.  He  also  added  to 
the  Hst  of  charader-studies  "Roderick  Random,"  a  tale  of  the 
sea,  the  mystery  of  which  has  never  palled  since  "  Robinson 
Crusoe  "  saw  light. 

There  was  also  the  novel  of  letters.  In  the  age  of  the  first 
great  novelists  letter-writing  was  among  the  polite  arts.  It 
was  therefore  counted  a  great  but  natural  achievement  when 
the  epistolary  method  of  revealing  the  plot  was  introduced. 
"Clarissa  Harlowe"  and  "Sir  Charles  Grandison"  were  the 
results  of  this  style  of  writing;  they  comprehended  the 
"most  Important  Concerns  of  private  life" — "concerns" 
which  moved  with  lingering  and  emotional  persistency 
towards  the  inevitable  catastrophe  in  "Clarissa,"  and  the 
happy  issue  out  of  the  misunderstandings  and  misadventures 
which  resulted  in  Miss  Byron's  alliance  with  Sir  Charles. 

Until  after  the  next  (nineteenth)  century  had  passed  its 
first  decade  these  tales  were  read  in  full  or  abridged  forms 
by  many  children  among  the  fashionable  and  literary  sets  in 
England  and  America.  Indeed,  the  art  of  writing  for  children 
was  so  unknown  that  often  attempts  to  produce  child-like 
"histories"  for  them  resulted  in  little  other  than  novels  upon 
an  abridged  scale. 

But  before  even  abridged  novels  found  their  way  into  juve- 
nile favor,  it  was  "customary  in  Richardson's  time  to  read  his 
novels  aloud  in  the  family  circle.  When  some  pathetic  passage 
was  reached  the  members  of  the  family  would  retire  to  sepa- 

[  79  ] 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

rate  apartments  toweep;  and  after  composing  themselves,  they 
would  return  to  the  fireside  to  have  the  reading  proceed.  It  was 
reported  to  Richardson,  that,  on  one  of  these  occasions,  'an 
amiable  little  boy  sobbed  as  if  his  sides  would  burst  and  re- 
solved to  mind  his  books  that  he  might  be  able  to  read  Pamela 
through  without  stopping.'  That  there  might  be  something  in 
the  family  novel  expressly  for  children,  Richardson  some- 
times stepped  aside  from  the  main  narrative  to  tell  them  a 
moral  tale."  "^ 

Mr.  Cross  gives  an  example  of  this  which,  shorn  of  its  deco- 
ration, was  the  tale  of  two  little  boys  and  two  little  girls,  who 
never  told  fibs,  who  were  never  rude  and  noisy,  mischievous 
or  quarrelsome ;  who  always  said  their  prayers  when  going  to 
bed,  and  therefore  became  fine  ladies  and  gentlemen. 

To  make  the  tales  less  difficult  for  amiable  children  to  read, 
an  abridgment  of  their  contents  was  undertaken;  and  Gold- 
smith is  said  to  have  done  much  of  the  "cutting  "in  "Pamela," 
"Clarissa  Harlowe,"  "Sir  Charles  Grandison,"  and  others. 
These  books  were  included  in  the  lists  of  those  sent  to  Amer- 
ica for  juvenile  reading.  In  Boston,  Cox  and  Berry  inserted 
in  the  "Boston  Gazette  and  Country  Journal "  a  notice  that 
they  had  the  "following  little  Books  for  all  good  Boys  and 
Girls : 

The  Brother's  Gift,  or  the  Naughty  Girl  Reformed. 
The  Sister's  Gift,  or  the  Naughty  Boy  Reformed. 
The  Hobby  Horse,  or  Christmas  Companion. 
The  Cries  of  London  as  Exhibited  in  the  Streets. 
The  Puzzling  Cap. 
The  History  of  Tom  Jones. 

*  Cross,  Development  of  the  English  Novelj  pp.  38,  39, 

[  80  ] 


American  Nursery 

The  History  of  Joseph  Andrews.  Abridg'd  from   the  works  of 

H.  Fielding 

The  History  of  Pamela.  abridg'd   from   the  works   of 

Samuel  Richardson,  Esq. 
The  History  of  Grandison. 
The  History  of  Clarissa." 

Up  to  this  time  the  story  has  been  rather  of  the  books  read 
by  the  Puritan  and  Quaker  population  of  the  colonies.  There 
had  arisen  during  the  first  half  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
however,  a  merchant  class  which  owed  its  prosperity  to  its 
own  ability.  Such  men  sought  for  their  families  the  material 
results  of  wealth  which  only  a  place  like  Boston  could  bestow. 
Many  children,  therefore,  were  sent  to  this  town  to  acquire 
suitable  education  in  books,  accomplishments,  and  deport- 
ment. A  highly  interesting  record  of  a  child  of  well-to-do 
parents  has  been  left  by  Anna  Green  Winslow,  who  came 
to  Boston  to  stay  with  an  aunt  for  the  winters  of  1771  and 
1772.  Her  diary  gives  delightful  glimpses  of  children's  tea- 
parties,  fashions,  and  schools,  all  put  down  with  a  childish 
disregard  of  importance  or  connedion.  It  is  in  these  jottings 
of  daily  occurrences  that  proof  is  found  that  so  young  a  girl 
read,  quite  as  a  matter  of  course,  the  abridged  works  of  Field- 
ing and  Richardson. 

On  January  1, 1772,  she  wrote  in  her  diary, "  a  Happy  New 
t Year,  I  have  bestowed  no  new  year's  gifts,  as  yet.  But  have 
received  one  very  handsome  one,  Viz,  the  History  of  Joseph 
Andrews  abreviated.  In  nice  Guilt  and  Flowers  covers."  Again, 
she  put  down  an  account  of  a  day's  work,  which  she  called  "a 
^piecemeal  for  in  the  first  place  I  sew'd  on  the  bosom  of  unkle's 

[81  ] 


\J 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

shirt,  and  mended  two  pairs  of  gloves,  mended  for  the  wash 
two  handkerch'fs,  (one  cambrick)  sewed  on  half  a  border  of 
a  lawn  apron  of  aunt's,  read  part  of  the  xxist  chapter  of 
Exodous,  &  a  story  in  the  Mother's  Gift."  Later  she  jotted  in 
her  book  the  loan  of  "  3  of  Cousin  Charles'  books  to  read, 
viz.  —  The  puzzling  Cap,  the  female  Orators  &  the  history 
of  Gaffer  Two  Shoes."  Little  Miss  Winslow,  though  only 
eleven  years  of  age,  was  a  typical  child  of  the  educated  class 
in  Boston,  and,  according  to  her  journal,  also  followed  the 
English  custom  of  reading  aloud  "with  Miss  Winslow,  the 
Generous  Inconstant  and  Sir  Charles  Grandison."  It  is  to 
be  regretted  that  her  diary  gives  no  information  as  to  how 
she  liked  such  tales.  We  must  anticipate  some  years  to  find 
a  comment  in  the  Commonplace  Book  of  a  Connedicut  girl. 
Lucy  Sheldon  lived  in  Litchfield,  a  thriving  town  in  eighteen 
hundred,  and  did  much  reading  for  a  child  in  those  days. 
Upon  "Sir  Charles  Grandison"  she  confided  to  her  book 
this  oflfhand  note :  "  Read  in  little  Grandison,  which  shows 
that,  virtue  always  meets  its  reward  and  vice  is  punished." 
The  item  is  very  suggestive  of  Goldsmith's  success  in  pro- 
ducing an  abridgment  that  left  the  moral  where  it  could  not 
be  overlooked. 

To  discuss  in  detail  this  class  of  writings  is  not  necessary, 
but  a  glance  at  the  story  of  "Clarissa"  gives  an  instrudive 
impression  of  what  old-fashioned  children  found  zestful. 

"  Clarissa  Harlowe  "  in  its  abridged  form  was  first  pub- 
lished by  Newbery,  Senior.  The  book  that  lies  before  the 
writer  was  printed  in  seventeen  hundred  and  seventy-two  by 
his  son,  Francis  Newbery.  In  size  five  by  three  and  one-half 

[  82] 


u 
American  Nursery 

inches,  it  is  decked  in  once  gay  parti-colored  heavy  Dutch 
paper,  with  a  delicate  gold  tracery  overall.  This  paper  binding, 
called  by  Anna  Winslow  "Flowery  Guilt,"  can  no  longer  be 
found  in  Holland,  the  place  of  its  manufadure ;  with  sarsinet 
and  other  fascinating  materials  it  has  vanished  so  completely 
that  it  exists  only  on  the  faded  bindings  of  such  small  books 
as  "  Clarissa." 

The  narrative  itself  is  compressed  from  the  original  seven 
volumes  into  one  volume  of  one  hundred  and  seventy-six 
closely  printed  pages,  with  several  full-page  copper-plate 
illustrations.  The  plot,  however,  gains  rather  than  loses  in 
this  condensed  form.  The  principal  distressing  situations 
follow  so  fast  one  upon  the  other  that  the  intensity  of  the 
various  episodes  in  the  affe5iing  history  is  increased  by  the 
total  absence  of  all  the  "  moving  "  letters  found  in  the  origi- 
nal work.  The  "  lordly  husband  and  father,"  "the  imperious 
son,"  "the  proud  ambitious  sister,  Arabella,"  all  combined 
to  force  the  universally  beloved  and  unassuming  Clarissa 
to  marry  the  wealthy  Mr.  Somers,  who  was  to  be  the  means 
of  "the  aggrandisement  of  the  family."  Clarissa,  in  this  per- 
plexing situation,  yielded  in  a  desperate  mood  to  "the  ear- 
nest entreaties  of  the  artful  Lovelace  to  accept  the  protec- 
tion of  the  Ladies  of  his  family."  Who  these  ladies  were,  to 
whom  the  designing  Lovelace  conduded  the  agitated  hero- 
ine, is  set  forth  in  unmistakable  language;  and  thereafter 
follow  the  treacherous  behaviour  exhibited  by  Lovelace,  the 
various  attempts  to  escape  by  the  unhappy  beauty,  and  her 
final  exhaustion  and  death.  An  example  of  the  style  may  be 
given  in  this  description  of  the  death-scene : 

[  83  ] 


Forgotten  Booh  of  the 

"Clarissa  had  before  remarked  that  all  would  be  most  con- 
veniently over  in  bed :  The  solemn,  the  most  important  mo- 
ment approached,  but  her  soul  ardently  aspiring  after  immo- 
rality [immortality  was  of  course  the  author's  intention],  she 
imagined  the  time  moved  slowly;  and  with  great  presence  of 
mind,  she  gave  orders  in  relation  to  her  body,  direding  her 
nurse  and  the  maid  of  the  house,  as  soon  as  she  was  cold,  to 
put  her  into  her  coffin.  The  Colonel  [her  cousin],  after  paying 
her  another  visit,  wrote  to  her  uncle,  Mr.  John  Harlowe,  that 
they  might  save  themselves  the  trouble  of  having  any  further 
debates  about  reconciliation;  for  before  they  could  resolve, 
his  dear  cousin  would  probably  be  no  more.  .  .  . 

"A  day  or  two  after,  Mr.  Belford  [a  friend]  was  sent  for, 
and  immediately  came;  at  his  entrance  he  saw  the  Colonel 
kneeling  by  her  bed-side  with  the  ladies  right  hand  in  both 
his,  which  his  face  covered  bathing  it  with  tears,  though  she 
had  just  been  endeavoring  to  comfort  him,  in  noble  and  ele- 
vated strains.  On  the  opposite  side  of  the  bed  was  seated 
Mrs.  Lovick,  who  leaning  against  the  bed's-head  in  a  most 
disconsolate  manner,  turned  to  him  as  soon  as  she  saw  him, 
crying,  O  Mr.  Belford,  the  dear  lady !  a  heavy  sigh  not  per- 
mitting her  to  say  more.  Mrs.  Smith  [the  landlady]  was 
kneeling  at  the  bed's  feet  with  clasped  fingers  and  upHfted 
eyes,  with  tears  trickling  in  large  drops  from  her  cheeks,  as 
if  imploring  help  from  the  source  of  all  comfort. 

"  The  excellent  lady  had  been  silent  a  few  minutes,  and 
was  thought  speechless,  she  moving  her  lips  without  uttering 
a  word;  but  when  Mrs.  Lovick,  on  Mr.  Belford's  approach, 
pronounced  his  name,  O  Mr.  Belford!  cried  she,  in  a  faint 

[  84] 


American  Nursery 

inward  voice,  Now!  —  now! — I  bless  God,  all  will  soon  be 
over — a  few  minutes  will  end  this  strife  —  and  I  shall  be 
happy,"  etc.  Her  speech  was  long,  although  broken  by  dashes, 
and  again  she  resumed,  "  in  a  more  faint  and  broken  accent," 
the  blessing  and  diredions.  "She  then  sunk  her  head  upon 
the  pillow ;  and  fainting  away,  drew  from  them  her  hands." 
Once  more  she  returned  to  consciousness,  "when  waving  her 
hand  to  him  [Mr.  Belford]  and  to  her  cousin,  and  bowing 
her  head  to  every  one  present,  not  omitting  the  nurse  and 
maid  servant,  with  a  faltering  and  inward  voice,  she  added 
Bless  —  Bless  —  you  all !  —  " 

The  illustrations,  in  comparison  with  others  of  the  time, 
are  very  well  engraved,  although  the  choice  of  subjeds  is 
somewhat  singular.  The  last  one  represents  Clarissa's  friend, 
"Miss  Howe"  (the  loyal  friend  to  whom  all  the  absent  let- 
ters were  addressed),  "lamenting  over  the  corpse  of  Clarissa," 
who  lies  in  the  coffin  ordered  by  the  heroine  "to  be  covered 
with  fine  black  cloth,  and  lined  with  white  satin." 

As  one  lays  aside  this  faded  duodecimo,  the  conviction  is 
strong  that  the  texture  of  the  life  of  an  old-fashioned  child 
was  of  coarser  weave  than  is  pleasant  to  contemplate.  How 
else  could  elders  and  guardians  have  placed  without  scruple 
such  books  in  the  hands  of  children"?  The  one  explanation 
is  to  be  found  in  such  diaries  as  that  of  Anna  Winslow,  who 
quaintly  put  down  in  her  book  fa6ts  and  occurrences  denoting 
the  maturity  already  reached  by  a  little  miss  of  eleven. 


[8s] 


CHAPTER  IV 

1 776-1 790 


The  British  King 
Lost  States  thirteen. 

The  New  England  Primer  ^ 

Philadelphia,  1797 

The  good  little  boy 
That  will  not  tell  a  lie. 
Shall  have  a  plum-pudding 
Or  hot  apple-pye. 

Jacky  Dandy  s  Delight^ 

Worcester,  1786 


^ 


CHAPTER  IV 

1776-1790 

Patriotic  Printers  and  the  American  Newbery 

WHEN  John  Mein  was  forced  to  close  his  London 
Book-Store  in  Boston  and  to  return  to  England  in 
tiyyo,  the  children  of  that  vicinity  had  need  to  cherish  their 
lix-penny  books  with  increased  care.  The  shadow  of  impend- 
ing conflid  was  already  deep  upon  the  country  when  Mein 
departed;  and  the  events  of  the  decade  following  seventeen 
hundred  and  seventy-three — the  year  of  the  Boston  Tea- 
Party — were  too  absorbing  and  distressing  for  such  trifling 
publications  as  toy-books  to  be  more  than  occasionally 
printed.  Indeed,  the  history  of  the  American  Revolution  is 
so  interwoven  with  tales  of  privation  of  the  necessities  of 
life  that  it  is  astonishing  that  any  printer  was  able  to  find  ink 
or  paper  to  produce  even  the  nursery  classic  "Goody  Two- 
I  Shoes,"  printed  by  Robert  Bell  of  Philadelphia  in  seventeen 
I  hundred  and  seventy-six. 

In  New  York  the  conditions  were  different.  The  Loyal- 
ists, as  long  as  the  town  was  held  by  the  British,  continued 
to  receive  importations  of  goods  of  all  descriptions.  Among 
the  booksellers,  Valentine  Nutter  from  time  to  time  adver- 
tised children's  as  well  as  adults'  books.  Hugh  Gaine  appar- 
ently continued  to  reprint  Newbery's  duodecimos;  and,  in 
a  rather  newer  shop,  Roger  and  Berry's,  in  Hanover  Square, 
near  Gaine's,  could  be  had  "Gilt  Books,  together  with  Sta- 
tionary, Jewelry,  a  CoUedion  of  the  most  books,  bibles, 
prayer-books  and  patent  medicines  warranted  genuine." 

[89] 


\i 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

Elsewhere  in  the  colonies,  as  in  Boston,  the  children  went 
without  new  books,  although  very  occasionally  such  notices 
as  the  following  were  inserted  in  the  newspapers: 

Just  imported  and  to  he  Sold  by  T^homas  Bradford 
At  his  Book-Store  in  Market-Street,  adjoining  the  CofFee-house 

The  following  Books  .  .  . 

Little  Histories  for  Children, 

Among  which  are.  Book  of  Knowledge,  Joe  Miller's  Jests,  Jenny 
Twitchells'  ditto,  the  Linnet,  The  Lark  (being  colle6l:ions  of  best 
Songs),  Robin  Redbreast,  Choice  Spirits,  Argalus  &  Parthenia, 
Valentine  and  Orson,  Seven  Wise  Masters,  Seven  Wise  Mis- 
tresses, Russell's  seven  Sermons,  Death  of  Abel,  French  Convert, 
Art's  Treasury,  Complete  Letter- Writer,  Winter  Evening  Enter- 
tainment, Stories  and  Tales,  Triumphs  of  Love,  being  a  Collec- 
tion of  Short  Stories,  Joseph  Andrews,  Aesop's  Fables,  Scotch 
Rogue,  Moll  Flanders,  Lives  of  Highwaymen,  Lives  of  Pirates, 
Buccaneers  of  America,  Robinson  Crusoe,  Twelve  Caesars. 

Such  was  the  assortment  of  penny-dreadfuls  and  religious 
trads  offered  in  seventeen  hundred  and  eighty-one  to  the 
Philadelphia  public  for  juvenile  reading.  It  is  typical  of  the 
chapmen's  library  peddled  about  the  colonies  long  after  they 
had  become  states.  "Valentine  and  Orson, "  "The  Seven  Wise 
Masters,"  "  The  Seven  Wise  Mistresses,"  and  "  Winter  Even- 
ing Entertainment"  are  found  in  publishers'  lists  for  many 
years,  and,  in  spite  of  frequent  vulgarities,  there  was  often 
no  discrimination  between  them  and  Newbery's  far  superior 
stories;  but  by  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty  almost  all  of  these 
undesirable  reprints  had  disappeared,  being  buried  under  the 
quantities  of  Sunday-school  tales  held  in  high  favor  at  that 
date. 

[90] 


American  Nursery 

Meanwhile,  the  six  years  of  struggle  for  liberty  had  ren- 
dered the  necessaries  of  life  in  many  cases  luxuries.  As  early 
as  seventeen  hundred  and  seventy-five,  during  the  siege  of 
Boston,  provisions  and  articles  of  dress  had  reached  such  prices 
that  we  find  thrifty  Mrs.  John  Adams,  in  Braintree,  Massa- 
chusetts, foreseeing  a  worse  condition,  writing  her  husband, 
who  was  one  of  the  Council  assembled  in  Philadelphia,  to 
send  her,  if  possible,  six  thousand  pins,  even  if  they  should 
cost  five  pounds.  Prices  continued  to  rise  and  currency  to  de- 
preciate. In  seventeen  hundred  and  seventy-nine  Mrs.  Adams 
reported  in  her  letters  to  her  husband  that  potatoes  were  ten 
dollars  a  bushel,  and  writing-paper  brought  the  same  price 
per  pound. 

Yet  family  life  went  on  in  spite  of  these  increasing  diffi- 
culties. The  diaries  and  letters  of  such  remarkable  women 
as  the  patriotic  Abigail  Adams,  the  Quakeress,  Mrs.  Eliza 
Drinker,  the  letters  of  the  Loyalist  and  exile,  James  Murray, 
the  correspondence  of  Eliza  Pinckney  of  Charleston,  and  the 
reminiscences  of  a  Whig  family  who  were  obliged  to  leave 
New  York  upon  the  occupation  of  the  town  by  British  forces, 
abound  in  those  details  of  domestic  life  that  give  a  many 
sided  pidure.  Joys  derived  from  good  news  of  dear  ones,  and 
family  reunions;  anxieties  occasioned  by  illness,  or  the  armies' 
depredations ;  courageous  efforts  on  the  part  of  mothers  not 
to  allow  their  children's  education  and  occupations  to  suffer 
unnecessarily;  tragedies  of  death  and  ruined  homes — all  are 
recorded  with  a  "particularity"  for  which  we  are  now  grate- 
ful to  the  writers. 

It  is  through  these  writings,  also,  that  we  are  allowed 

[91  ] 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

glimpses  of  the  enthusiasm  for  the  cause  of  Liberty,  or  King, 
which  was  imbibed  from  the  parents  by  the  smallest  children. 
On  the  Whig  side,  patriotic  mothers  in  New  England  filled 
their  sons  with  zeal  for  the  cause  of  freedom  and  with  hatred 
of  the  tyranny  of  the  Crown;  while  in  the  more  southern  col- 
onies the  partisanship  of  the  little  ones  was  no  less  intense. 
"From  the  constant  topic  of  the  present  conversation,"  wrote 
the  Rev.  John  J.  Zubly  (a  Swiss  clergyman  settled  in  South 
Carolina  and  Georgia),  in  an  address  to  the  Earl  of  Dartmouth 
in  seventeen  hundred  and  seventy-five,  —  "from  the  constant 
topic  of  the  present  conversation,  every  child  unborn  will  be 
impressed  with  the  notion — it  is  slavery  to  be  bound  at  the 
will  of  another  'in  all  things  whatsoever.'  Every  mother's  milk 
will  convey  a  detestation  of  this  maxim.  Were  your  lordship 
in  America,  you  might  see  little  ones  acquainted  with  the  word 
of  command  before  they  can  distinctly  speak,  and  shoulder- 
ing of  a  gun  before  they  are  well  able  to  walk."  * 

The  children  of  the  Tories  had  also  their  part  in  the  strug- 
gle. To  some  the  property  of  parents  was  made  over,  to  save  it 
from  confiscation  in  the  event  of  the  success  of  the  American 
cause.  To  others  came  the  bitterness  of  separation  from  par- 
ents, when  they  were  sent  across  the  sea  to  unknown  relatives; 
while  again  some  faint  manuscript  record  tells  of  a  motherless 
child  brought  from  a  comfortable  home,  no  longer  tenable,  to 
whatever  quarters  could  be  found  within  the  British  lines.  For- 
tunately, children  usually  adapt  themselves  easily  to  changed 
conditions,  and  in  the  novelty  and  excitement  of  the  life 
around  them,  it  is  probable  they  soon  forgot  the  luxuries  of 

*  Tyler,  Literary  History  of  the  American  Re'volution,  vol.  i,  p.  485. 

[9^] 


1/ 


American  Nursery 

dolls  and  hobby-horses,  toy-books  and  drums,  of  former  days. 

In  the  Commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania  the  sentiment  of 
the  period  was  expressed  in  two  or  three  editions  of  "  The 
New  England  Primer."  Already  in  1770  one  had  appeared 
containing  as  frontispiece  a  poor  wood-cut  of  John  Hancock. 
In  1775  the  enthusiasm  over  the  appointment  of  George 
Washington  as  commander-in-chief  brought  out  another  edi- 
tion of  the  ABC  book  with  the  same  pidure  labelled  "Gen- 
eral Washington."  The  custom  of  making  one  cut  do  duty 
in  several  representations  was  so  well  understood  that  this 
method  of  introducing  George  Washington  to  the  infant 
reader  naturally  escaped  remark. 

Another  primer  appeared  four  years  later,  which  was  adver- 
tised by  Walters  and  Norman  in  the  "Pennsylvania  Evening 
Post"  as  "adorned  with  a  beautiful  head  of  George  Washing- 
ton and  other  copper-plates."  According  to  Mr.  Hildeburn, 
this  small  book  had  the  honor  of  containing  the  first  portrait 
of  Washington  engraved  in  America.  While  such  fads  are  of 
trifling  importance,  they  are,  nevertheless,  indications  of  the 
state  of  intense  feeling  that  existed  at  the  time,  and  point  the 
way  by  which  the  children's  books  became  nationalized. 

In  New  England  the  very  games  of  children  centred  in  the 
events  which  thrilled  the  country.  Josiah  Quincy  remembered 
very  well  in  after  life,  how  "  at  the  age  of  five  or  six,  astride 
my  grandfather's  cane  and  with  my  little  whip,  I  performed 
prodigies  of  valor,  and  more  than  once  came  to  my  mother's 
knees  declaring  that  I  had  driven  the  British  out  of  Boston." 
Afterwards  at  Phillips  Academy,  in  Andover,  between  seven- 
teen hundred  and  seventy-eight  and  seventeen  hundred  and 

[93] 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

eighty-six,  Josiah  and  his  schoolfellows  "established  it  as 
a  principle  that  every  hoop,  sled,  etc.,  should  in  some  way- 
bear  thirteen  marks  as  evidence  of  the  political  charader  of 
the  owner,  —  if  which  were  wanting  the  articles  became  fair 
prize  and  were  condemned  and  forfeited  without  judge,  jury, 
or  decree  of  admiralty."  ^ 

Other  boys,  such  as  John  Quincy  Adams,  had  tutors  at 
home  as  a  less  expensive  means  of  education  than  the  war- 
time price  of  forty  dollars  a  week  for  each  child  that  good 
boarding-schools  demanded.  But  at  their  homes  the  children 
had  plenty  of  opportunity  to  show  their  intense  enthusiasm 
for  the  cause  of  liberty.  Years  later,  Mr.  Adams  wrote  to 
a  Quaker  friend: 

"  For  the  space  of  twelve  months  my  mother  with  her  infant 
children  dwelt,  liable  every  hour  of  the  day  and  of  the  night 
to  be  butchered  in  cold  blood,  or  taken  and  carried  to  Boston 
as  hostages.  My  mother  lived  in  uninterrupted  danger  of  being 
consumed  with  them  all  in  a  conflagration  kindled  by  a  torch 
in  the  same  hands  which  on  the  Seventeenth  of  June  [1775] 
lighted  the  fires  of  Charles  town."  f 

He  was,  of  course,  only  one  of  many  boys  who  saw  from 
some  height  near  their  homes  the  signs  of  battle,  the  fires  of 
the  enemy's  camps,  the  smoke  rising  from  some  farm  fired  by 
the  British,  or  burned  by  its  owner  to  prevent  their  occupation 
of  it.  With  hearts  made  to  beat  quickly  by  the  news  that  fil- 
tered through  the  lines,  and  heads  made  old  by  the  respon- 
sibility thrust  upon  them, — in  the  absence  of  fathers  and  older 

*Life  of  Josiah  ^incy^  p.  27.  Boston,  1866. 
fEarle,  Child  Life  in  Colonial  Daysy  p.  171. 

[94] 


American  Nursery 

brothers, — such  boys  as  John  Quincy  Adams  saw  adive  ser- 
vice in  the  capacity  of  post-riders  bearing  in  their  several 
distrids  the  anxiously  awaited  tidings  from  Congress  or 
battlefield. 

Fortunate  indeed  were  the  families  whose  homes  were  not 
disturbed  by  the  military  operations.  From  Boston,  New  York, 
and  Philadelphia,  families  were  sent  hastily  to  the  country 
until  the  progress  of  the  war  made  it  possible  to  return  to  such 
comforts  as  had  not  been  destroyed  by  the  British  soldiers.  The 
"Memoirs  of  Eliza  Morton,"  afterward  Mrs.  Josiah  Quincy, 
but  a  child  eight  years  of  age  in  seventeen  hundred  and  sev- 
enty-six, gives  a  realistic  account  of  the  life  of  such  Whig 
refugees.  Upon  the  occupation  of  New  York  by  the  British, 
her  father,  a  merchant  of  wealth,  as  riches  were  then  reckoned, 
was  obliged  to  burn  his  warehouse  to  save  it  from  English 
hands.  Mr.  Morton  then  gathered  together  in  the  little  country 
village  of  Basking  Ridge,  seven  miles  from  Morristown,  New 
Jersey,  such  of  his  possessions  as  could  be  hastily  transported 
from  the  city.  Among  the  books  saved  in  this  way  were  the 
works  of  Thurston,  Thomson,  Lyttleton,  and  Goldsmith,  and 
for  the  children's  benefit,  "Dodsley's  Colledion  of  Poems," 
and  "  Pilgrim's  Progress."  "  This,"  wrote  Mrs.  Quincy,  "  was 
a  great  favorite;  Mr.  Greatheart  was  in  my  opinion  a  hero, 
well  able  to  help  us  all  on  our  way."  During  the  exile  from 
New  York,  as  Eliza  Morton  grew  up,  she  read  all  these  books, 
and  years  afterward  told  her  grandchildren  that  while  she  ad- 
mired the  works  of  Thurston,  Thomson,  and  Lyttleton,  "those 
of  Goldsmith  were  my  chief  delight.  When  my  reading  be- 
came afterward  more  extensive  I  instindively  disliked  the 

[95  ] 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

extravagant  fidion  which  often  injures  the  youthful  mind." 
The  war,  however,  was  not  allowed  to  interfere  with  the 
children's  education  in  this  family.  In  company  with  other 
little  exiles,  they  were  taught  by  a  venerable  old  man  until 
the  evacuation  of  Philadelphia  made  it  possible  to  send  the 
older  children  to  Germantown,  where  a  Mr.  Leslie  had  what 
was  considered  a  fine  school.  The  schoolroom  walls  were  hung 
with  lists  of  texts  of  Scripture  beginning  with  the  same  let- 
ter, and  for  globes  were  substituted  the  schoolmaster's  snuff- 
box and  balls  of  yarn.  If  these  failed  to  impress  a  child  with 
the  corre6b  notions  concerning  the  solar  system,  the  children 
themselves  were  made  to  whirl  around  the  teacher. 

In  Basking  Ridge  the  children  had  much  excitement  with 
the  passing  of  soldiers  to  Washington's  headquarters  in  Mor- 
ristown,  and  with  watching  for  "The  Post"  who  carried 
the  news  between  Philadelphia,  Princeton,  and  Morristown. 
"'The  Post,'  Mr.  Martin,"  wrote  Mrs.  Quincy,  "was  an  old 
man  who  carried  the  mail,  ...  he  was  our  constant  medium 
of  communication;  and  always  stopped  at  our  house  to  refresh 
himself  and  horse,  tell  the  news,  and  bring  packets.  He  used 
to  wear  a  blue  coat  with  yellow  buttons,  a  scarlet  waistcoat, 
leathern  small-clothes,  blue  yarn  stockings,  and  a  red  wig  and 
cocked  hat,  which  gave  him  a  sort  of  military  appearance. 
He  usually  traveled  in  a  sulky,  but  sometimes  in  a  chaise,  or 
on  horseback.  .  .  .  Mr.  Martin  also  contrived  to  employ  him- 
self in  knitting  coarse  yarn  stockings  while  driving  or  rather 
jogging  along  the  road,  or  when  seated  on  his  saddle-bags  on 
horseback.  He  certainly  did  not  ride  post^  according  to  the 
present  [1821]  meaning  of  that  term." 

[  96  ] 


American  Nursery 

Deprived  like  many  other  children  of  Newbery's  peace- 
ful biographies  and  stories,  the  little  Mortons'  lives  were  too 
full  of  an  intense  daily  interest  to  feel  the  lack  of  new  litera- 
ture of  this  sort.  Tales  of  the  campaigns  told  in  letters  to 
friends  and  neighbors  were  reechoed  in  the  ballads  and  songs 
that  formed  part  of  the  literary  warfare  waged  by  Whig  or 
Loyal  partisans.  Children  of  to-day  sing  so  zestfully  the 
popular  tunes  of  the  moment,  that  it  requires  very  little 
imagination  to  pidure  the  schoolboy  of  Revolutionary  days 
shouting  lustily  verses  from  "The  Battle  of  the  Kegs,"  and 
other  rhymed  stories  of  military  incidents.  Such  a  ballad  was 
"A  Song  for  the  Red  Coats,"  written  after  the  successful 
campaign  against  Burgoyne,  and  beginning: 

"  Come  unto  me,  ye  heroes, 
Whose  hearts  are  true  and  bold. 
Who  value  more  your  honor. 
Than  others  do  their  gold ! 
Give  ear  unto  my  story. 
And  I  the  truth  vi^ill  tell. 
Concerning  many  a  soldier. 
Who  for  his  country  fell." 

Children,  it  has  been  said,  are  good  haters.  To  the  patriot 
boy  and  girl,  the  opportunity  to  execrate  Benedid  Arnold 
was  found  in  these  lines  of  a  patriotic  "ditty"  concerning 
the  fate  of  Major  Andre : 

"When  he  was  executed 
He  looked  both  meek  and  mild; 
He  looked  upon  the  people, 
And  pleasantly  he  smiled. 
It  moved  each  eye  to  pity. 
Caused  every  heart  to  bleed; 
[97] 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

And  every  one  wished  him  released — 
And  Arnold  in  his  stead."  * 

Loyalist  children  had  an  almost  equal  supply  of  satirical 
verse  to  fling  back  at  neighbors'  families,  where  in  country 
distrids  some  farms  were  still  occupied  by  sympathizers 
with  Great  Britain.  A  vigorous  example  of  this  style  of  war- 
fare is  quoted  by  Mr.  Tyler  in  his  "Literature  of  the  Ameri- 
can Revolution,"  and  which,  written  in  seventeen  hundred 
and  seventy-six,  is  entitled  "  The  Congress."  It  begins : 

"These  hardy  knaves  and  stupid  fools, 
Some  apish  and  pragmatic  mules. 
Some  servile  acquiescing  tools, — 
These,  these  compose  the  Congress  !  "  f 

Or,  again,  such  taunts  over  the  general  poverty  of  the  land 

and  charader  of  the  army  as  were  made  in  a  ballad  called 

"The  Rebels"  by  a  Loyalist  officer: 

"  With  loud  peals  of  laughter,  your  sides, 
Sirs,  would  crack. 

To  see  General  Convict  and  Colonel  Shoe-black, 
With  their  hunting-shirts  and  rifle-guns. 
See  Cobblers  and  quacks,  rebel  priests  and  the  like. 
Pettifoggers  and  barbers,  with  sword  and  with  pike." 

Those  Loyalists  who  lived  through  this  exciting  period  in 
America's  history  bore  their  full  share  in  the  heavy  personal 
misfortunes  of  their  political  party.  The  hatred  felt  toward 
such  colonials  as  were  true  to  the  king  has  until  recently 
hardly  subsided  sufficiently  to  permit  any  sympathy  with  the 
hardships  they  suffered.  Driven  from  their  homes,  crowded 
together  in  those  places  occupied  by  the  English,  or  exiled 

*  Tyler,  Literature  of  the  American  Re'volution^  vol.  ii,  p.  182.  \  Ibid.,  p.  156. 

L98] 


American  Nursery 

to  England  or  Halifax,  these  faithful  subjeds  had  also  to 
undergo  separation  of  families  perhaps  never  again  united. 

Such  a  Loyalist  was  James  Murray.  Forced  to  leave  his 
daughter  and  grandchildren  in  Boston  with  a  sister,  he  took 
ship  for  Halifax  to  seek  a  living.  There,  amid  the  pressing 
anxieties  occasioned  by  this  separation,  he  strove  to  reestab- 
Hsh  himself,  and  sent  from  time  to  time  such  articles  as  he 
felt  were  necessary  for  their  welfare.  Thus  he  writes  a  mem- 
orandum of  articles  sent  in  seventeen  hundred  and  eighty  by 
"Mr.  Bean's  Cartel  to  Miss  Betsy  Murray: — viz:  Everlast- 
ing 4  yards;  binding  i  piece,  Nankeen  4^  yards.  Of  Ging- 
ham 2  gown  patterns;  2  pairs  red  shoes  from  A.  E.  C.  for 
boys,  Jack  and  Ralph,  a  parcel — to  Mrs.  Brigden,  1  pair  silk 
shoes  and  some  flowers — Arthur's  Geographical  Grammar, 
— Locke  on  Education,  —  5  children's  books,"  etc.  And  in 
return  he  is  informed  that  "Charlotte  goes  to  dancing  and 
writing  school,  improves  apace  and  grows  tall.  Betsy  and 
Charles  are  much  better  but  not  well.  The  rest  of  the  chil- 
dren are  in  good  health,  desiring  their  duty  to  their  Uncle  and 
Aunt  Inman,  and  thanks  for  their  cake  and  gloves." 

To  such  families  the  end  of  the  war  meant  either  the  ne- 
cessity for  making  permanent  their  residence  in  the  British 
dominion,  or  of  bearing  both  outspoken  and  silent  scorn  in 
the  new  Republic. 

For  the  Americans  the  peace  of  Yorktown  brought  joy, 
but  new  beginnings  had  also  to  be  made.  Farms  had  been 
laid  waste,  or  had  suffered  from  lack  of  men  to  cultivate  them; 
industries  were  almost  at  a  standstill  from  want  of  material 
and  laborers.  Still  the  people  had  the  splendid  compensa- 

[99  ] 


Forgotten  Booh  of  the 

tion  of  freedom  with  vidory,  and  men  went  sturdily  back  to 
their  homes  to  take  up  as  far  as  possible  their  various  occu- 
pations. 

An  example  of  the  way  in  which  business  undertaken  be- 
fore the  war  was  rapidly  resumed,  or  increased,  is  afforded 
by  the  revival  of  prosperity  for  the  booksellers  in  Boston, 
New  York,  and  Philadelphia.  Renewals  of  orders  to  London 
agents  were  speedily  made,  for  the  Americans  still  looked 
to  England  for  their  intelledual  needs.  In  Philadelphia — a 
town  of  forty  thousand  inhabitants  in  seventeen  hundred  and 
eighty-three  —  among  the  principal  booksellers  and  printers 
were  Thomas  Bradford,  Mr.  Woodhouse,  Mr.  Oswald,  Mr. 
Pritchard, — who  had  established  a  circulating  library, — 
Robert  Aitkin,  Mr.  Liddon,  Mr.  Dunlap,  Mr.  Rice,  William 
and  David  Hall,  Benjamin  Bache,  J.  Crukshank,  and  Robert 
Bell.  Bell  had  undoubtedly  the  largest  bookstore,  but  seems 
not  to  have  been  altogether  popular,  if  an  allusion  in  "  The 
Philadelphiad "  is  to  be  credited.  This  "New  Pidure  of  the 
City"  was  anonymously  published  in  seventeen  hundred  and 
eighty-four,  and  described,  among  other  well-known  places, 
Robert  Bell's  book-shop: 

Bell's  Book  Store 
Juft  by  St.  Paul's  where  dry  divines  rehearfe, 
Bell  keeps  his  ftore  for  vending  profe  and  verfe, 
And  books  that's  neither  ...  for  no  age  nor  clime, 
Lame  languid  profe  begot  on  hobb'ling  rhyme. 
Here  authors  meet  who  ne'er  a  fpring  have  got, 
The  poet,  player,  dodor,  w^it  and  fot. 
Smart  politicians  wrangling  here  are  feen. 
Condemning  Jeffries  or  indulging  fpleen. 

[   100  ] 


t/ 


American  Nursery 

In  1776  Bell's  facilities  for  printing  had  enabled  him  to  pro- 
duce an  edition  of  "  Little  Goody  Two-Shoes,"  which  seems 
likely  to  have  been  the  only  story-book  printed  during  the 
troubled  years  of  the  Revolution.  Besides  this,  Bell  printed 
in  1777  "Aesop's  Fables,"  as  did  also  Robert  Aitkin;  and 
J.  Crukshank  had  issued  during  the  war  an  A  B  C  book, 
written  by  the  old  schoolmaster,  A.  Benezet,  who  had  drilled 
many  a  Philadelphian  in  his  letters.  After  the  Revolution 
Benjamin  Bache  apparently  printed  children's  books  in  con- 
siderable quantities,  and  orders  were  sent  by  other  firms  to 
England  for  juvenile  reading-matter. 

New  England  also  has  records  of  the  sale  of  these  small 
books  in  several  towns  soon  after  peace  was  established.  John 
Carter,  "at  Shakespeare's  Head,"  in  Providence,  announced 
by  a  broadside  issued  in  November,  seventeen  hundred  and 
eighty-three,  that  he  had  a  large  assortment  of  stationers' 
wares,  and  included  in  his  list  "  Gilt  Books  for  Children^' 
among  which  were  most  of  Newbery's  publications.  In  Hart- 
ford, Connedicut,  where  there  had  been  a  good  press  since 
seventeen  hundred  and  sixty-four,  "The  Children's  Maga- 
zine" was  reprinted  in  seventeen  hundred  and  eighty-nine. 
Its  preposterous  titles  are  noteworthy,  since  it  is  probable 
that  this  was  the  first  attempt  at  periodical  literature  made 
for  young  people  in  America.  One  number  contains : 

An  easy  Introdu6tion  to  Geography. 
The  Schoolboy  addressed  to  the  Editors. 
Moral  Tales  continued. 

Tale  VIII.  The  Jealous  Wife. 
The  Affectionate  Sisters. 

[  i°i  ] 


Forgotten  Booh  of  the 

Familiar  Letters  on  Various  Subjects, —  Continued.  .  .  . 
Letter  V  from  Phillis  Flowerdale  to  Miss  Truelove, 
Letter  VI  from  Miss  Truelove  to  Phillis  Flowerdale, 

Poetry.  —  The  Sweets  of  May. 

The  Cottage  Retirement. 

Advice  to  the  Fair. 

The  Contented  Cottager. 

The  Tear. 

The  Honest  Heart. 

The  autograph  of  Eben  Holt  makes  the  contents  of  the  maga- 
zine ludicrous  as  subjeds  of  interest  to  a  boy  But  having 
nothing  better,  Eben  most  surely  read  it  from  cover  to  cover. 

In  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  Robert  Wells  imported 
the  books  read  by  the  members  of  the  various  branches  of 
the  Ravenel,  Pinckney,  Prioleau,  Drayton,  and  other  fami- 
lies. Boston  supplied  the  juvenile  public  largely  through 
E.  Battelle  and  Thomas  Andrews,  who  were  the  agents  for 
Isaiah  Thomas,  the  American  Newbery. 

An  account  of  the  work  of  this  remarkable  printer  of 
Worcester,  Massachusetts,  has  been  given  in  Dr.  Charles  L. 
Nichols's  "Bibliography  of  Worcester."  Thomas's  publica- 
tions ranked  as  among  the  very  best  of  the  last  quarter  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  and  were  sought  by  book-dealers  in  the 
various  states.  At  one  time  he  had  sixteen  presses,  seven  of 
which  were  in  Worcester.  He  had  also  four  bookstores  in  va- 
rious towns  of  Massachusetts,  one  in  Concord,  New  Hamp- 
shire, one  in  Baltimore,  and  one  in  Albany. 

In  1761,  at  the  age  of  ten,  Thomas  had  set  up  as  his 
"'Prentice's  Token,"  a  primer  issued  by  A.  Barclay  in  Corn- 
hill,  Boston,  entitled  "Tom  Thumb's  Play-Book,  To  Teach 

[  102  ] 


American  Nursery 

Children  their  letters  as  soon  as  they  can  speak."  Although 
this  primer  was  issued  by  Barclay,  Thomas  had  already 
served  four  years  in  a  printer's  office,  for  according  to  his 
own  statement  he  had  been  sent  at  the  age  of  six  to  learn  his 
trade  of  Zechariah  Fowle.  Here,  as  'prentice,  he  may  have 
helped  to  set  up  the  stories  of  the  "  Holy  Jesus "  and  the 
"  New  Gift,"  and  upon  the  cutting  of  their  rude  illustrations 
perhaps  took  his  first  lessons  in  engraving.  For  we  know 
that  by  seventeen  hundred  and  sixty-four  he  did  fairly  good 
work  upon  the  "  Book  of  Knowledge  "  from  the  press  of  the 
old  printer.  Upon  the  fly-leaf  of  a  copy  of  this  owned  by  the 
American  Antiquarian  Society,  founded  by  Thomas,  is  the 
statement  in  the  Worcester  printer's  handwriting,  "  Printed 
and  cuts  engraved  by  I.  Thomas  then  13  years  of  age  for 
Z.  Fowle  when  I.  T.  was  his  Apprentice:  bad  as  the  cuts 
are  executed,  there  was  not  at  that  time  an  artist  in  Boston 
who  could  have  done  them  much  better.  Some  time  before, 
and  soon  after  there  were  better  engravers  in  Boston."  These 
cuts,  especially  the  frontispiece  representing  a  boy  with  a 
spy-glass  and  globe,  and  with  a  sextant  at  his  feet,  are  far 
from  poor  work  for  a  lad  of  thirteen.  "The  battered  didion- 
ary,"  says  Dr.  Nichols,  "and  the  ink-stained  Bible  which 
he  found  in  Fowle's  office  started  him  in  his  career,  and  the 
printing-press,  together  with  an  invincible  determination  to 
excel  in  his  calling,  carried  him  onward,  until  he  stands  to-day 
with  Franklin  and  Baskerville,  a  type  of  the  man  who  with 
few  educational  advantages  succeeds  because  he  loves  his 
art  for  his  art's  sake." 

In  supplying  to  American  children  a  home-made  library, 

[  103  ] 


\J 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

Thomas,  although  he  did  no  really  original  work  for  children, 
such  as  his  English  prototype,  Newbery,  had  accomplished, 
yet  had  a  motive  which  was  not  altogether  selfish  and  pecu- 
niary. The  prejudice  against  anything  of  British  manufacture 
was  especially  strong  in  the  vicinity  of  Boston;  and  it  was 
an  altogether  natural  expression  of  this  spirit  that  impelled 
the  Worcester  printer,  as  soon  as  his  business  was  well 
established,  to  begin  to  reprint  the  various  little  histories. 
These  reprints  were  all  pirated  from  Newbery  and  his  suc- 
cessors, Newbery  and  Carnan ;  but  they  compare  most  favor- 
ably with  them,  and  so  far  surpassed  the  work  of  any  other 
American  printer  of  children's  books  (except  possibly  those 
of  Bache  in  Philadelphia)  that  his  work  demands  more  than 
a  passing  mention. 

Beginning,  like  most  printers,  with  the  produdion  of  a 
primer  in  seventeen  hundred  and  eighty-four,  by  seventeen 
hundred  and  eighty-six  Thomas  was  well  under  way  in  his 
work  for  children.  In  that  year  at  least  eleven  little  books 
bore  his  imprint  and  were  sent  to  his  Boston  agents  to  be 
sold.  In  the  "Worcester  Magazine  "  for  June,  1786,  Thomas 
addressed  an  "Advertisement  to  Booksellers,"  as  follows: 
"A  large  assortment  of  all  the  various  sizes  of  Children's 
Books,  known  by  the  name  of  Newbery's  Little  Books  for 
Children,  are  now  republished  by  I.  Thomas  in  Worcester, 
Massachusetts.  They  are  all  done  excellently  in  his  English 
Method,  and  it  is  supposed  the  paper,  printing,  cuts,  and 
binding  are  in  every  way  equal  to  those  imported  from  Eng- 
land. As  the  Subscriber  has  been  at  great  expense  to  carry 
on  this  particular  branch  of  Printing  extensively,  he  hopes 

[  104  ] 


American  Nursery 

to  meet  with  encouragement  from  the  Booksellers  in  the 
United  States." 

Evidently  he  did  meet  with  great  encouragement  from 
parents  as  well  as  booksellers;  and  it  is  suspeded  that  the 
best  printed  books  bearing  imprints  of  other  booksellers  were 
often  printed  in  Worcester  and  bound  according  to  the  taste 
and  facilities  of  the  dealer.  That  this  pradice  of  reprinting 
the  title-page  and  rebinding  was  customary,  a  letter  from 
Franklin  to  his  nephew  in  Boston  gives  indisputable  evidence : 

Philada.  Nov.  26,  1788. 

Loving  Cousin: 

I  have  lately  set  up  one  of  my  grand-children,  Benja.  F. 
Bache,  as  a  Printer  here,  and  he  has  printed  fome  very  pretty 
little  Books  for  Children.  By  the  Sloop  Friendlhip,  Capt.  Stut- 
fon,  I  have  fent  a  Box  addrefs'd  to  you,  containing  150  of 
each  volume,  in  Sheets,  which  I  requeft  you  would,  according 
to  your  wonted  Goodnefs,  put  in  a  way  of  being  disposed  of 
for  the  Benefit  of  my  dear  Sister.  They  are  fold  here,  bound 
in  marbled  Paper  at  1  S.  a  Volume ;  but  I  ftiould  fuppofe  it 
beft,  if  it  may  be  done,  to  fell  the  whole  to  some  Stationer, 
at  once,  unbound  as  they  are;  in  which  cafe  I  imagine  that 
half  a  Dollar  a  Quire  may  be  thought  a  reafonable  Price, 
allowing  ufual  Credit  if  necefsary. 

My  Love  to  your  Family,  &  believe  me  ever, 

Your  afFedionate  Uncle 

B.  Franklin. 

JoNA.  Williams,  Esq. 

Franklin's  reference  to  the  Philadelphia  manner  of  binding 
toy-books  in  marbled  paper  indicates  that  this  home-made 

[  ^05] 


\l  Forgotten  Books  of  the 

produd  was  already  displacing  the  attradive  imported  gilt 
embossed  and  parti-colored  covers  used  by  Thomas,  who 
seems  never  to  have  adopted  this  ugly  dress  for  his  juve- 
nile publications.  As  the  demand  for  his  wares  increased, 
'  Thomas  set  up  other  volumes  from  Newbery's  stock,  until 
by  seventeen  hundred  and  eighty-seven  he  had  reproduced 
pradically  every  item  for  his  increasing  trade.  It  was  his  cus- 
tom to  include  in  many  of  these  books  a  Catalogue  of  the 
various  tales  for  sale,  and  in  "The  Pidure  Exhibition"  we 
find  a  list  of  fifty-two  stories  to  be  sold  for  prices  varying  from 
six  pence  to  a  shilling  and  a  half 

These  books  may  be  divided  into  several  classes,  all  imi- 
tations of  the  English  adult  literature  then  in  vogue.  The 
alphabets  and  primers,  such  as  the  "Little  Lottery  Book," 
*' Christmas  Box,"  and  "Tom  Thumb's  Play-thing,"  are  out- 
side the  limits  of  the  present  subjed,  since  they  were  written 
primarily  to  instrud;  and  while  it  is  often  difficult  to  draw 
the  line  where  amusement  begins  and  instrudion  sinks  to  the 
background,  the  title-pages  can  usually  be  taken  as  evidence 
at  least  of  the  author's  intention.  These  other  books,  however, 
fall  naturally  under  the  heads  of  jest  and  puzzle  books,  nature 
stories,  fables,  rhymes,  novels,  and  stories — all  prototypes  of 
the  nursery  literature  of  to-day. 

The  jest  and  joke  books  published  by  Thomas  numbered, 
as  far  as  is  known  to  the  writer,  only  five.  Their  titles  seem  to 
offer  a  feast  of  fun  unfulfilled  by  the  contents.  "Be  Merry  & 
Wise,  or  the  Cream  of  the  Jests  and  the  Marrow  of  Maxims," 
by  Tommy  Trapwit,  contained  concentrated  extrads  of  wis- 
dom, and  jokes  such  as  were  current  among  adults.  The  chil- 

[   '06  ] 


J 


BOOKS,  for  Matters  and  MilTes  of 
all  AgeSf  iKibkh  nvill  make  them  ^wtfie^ 
and  happy  i  printed  and  fold  by  Isaiah 
Thomas,  at  his  Bookftore;«  Worcefter, 
Ma(fachufettSy  all  ornamented  ivith  Cuts, 
and  prettily   bound. 

The  follo<wtng  are  all  price  four  Cents  each, 
or  four  fedei-al  copper Sy\\z, 

NURSE  TRUELOVE's  Chriflmas 
Box. 

The  FATHER'S  GIFT  j  or  the  Way  to 
be  wife. 

The  BROTHER'S  GIFT  j  or  the  naugh- 
ty Girl  reformed. 

The  SISTER'S  GIFT }  or  the  naughty 
•Boy  reformed. 

The  liftte  PUZZLING  CAP  j  or  a  Col- 

•    le^fOn  of  pretty  Riddles. 

The  ROYAL  ALPHABET ;  or  Child's 
beft  Inftruftor  ;  to  which  is  added,  the 
HKlory  of  a  little  Boy  found  undor  a 
Haycock. 

The  Death  and  Burial  of  COCK  ROB- 
BIN  ;  with  the  tragical  Death  of  A, 
Apple  Pye. 


J.  page  from  a  Catalogue  of  Children's  Books 
printed  by  Isaiah  Thomas 


American  Nursery 

dren  for  whom  they  were  meant  were  accustomed  to  nothing 
more  facetious  than  the  following  jest :  "  An  arch  wag  said, 
Baylors  were  like  Woodcocks  for  they  got  their  substance  by 
their  long  bills."  Perhaps  they  understood  also  the  point  in 
this:  "A  certain  lord  had  a  termagant  wife,  and  at  the  same 
time  a  chaplain  that  was  a  tolerable  poet,  whom  his  lordship 
desired  to  write  a  copy  of  verses  upon  a  shrew.  I  can't  imagine, 
said  the  chaplain,  why  your  lordship  should  want  a  copy,  who 
has  so  good  an  original."  Other  witticisms  are  not  quotable. 
Conundrums  played  their  part  in  the  eighteenth  century 
juvenile  life,  much  as  they  do  to-day.  These  were  to  be  found 
in  "A  Bag  of  Nuts  ready  Cracked,"  and  "  The  Big  and  Little 
Puzzling  Caps."  "Food  for  the  Mind"  was  the  solemn  title 
of  another  riddle-book,  whose  conundrums  are  very  serious 
matters.  Riddle  XIV  of  the  "  Puzzling  Cap"  is  typical  of  its 
rather  dreary  contents : 

"There  was  a  man  bespoke  a  thing, 
Which  when  the  maker  home  did  bring, 
This  same  maker  did  refuse  it; 
He  who  bespoke  it  did  not  use  it 
And  he  who  had  it  did  not  know 
Whether  he  had  it,  yea  or  no." 

lis  was  a  nut  also  "ready  cracked"  by  the  answer  repro- 
luced  in  the  illustration. 
Nature  stories  were  attempted  under  the  titles  of  "The 
atural  History  of  Four  Footed  Beasts,"  "  Jacky  Dandy's 
:hght;  or  the  History  of  Birds  and  Beasts  in  Verse  and 
^rose,"  "Mr.  Telltruth's  Natural  History  of  Birds,"  and 
^' Tommy  Trip's  History  of  Beasts  and  Birds."  All  these  were 

[  107  ] 


7 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

written  after  Oliver  Goldsmith's  "Animated  Nature"  had 
won  its  way  into  great  popularity.  As  a  consequence  of  the 
favorable  Impression  this  book  had  made,  Goldsmith  is  sup- 
posed to  have  been  asked  by  Newbery  to  try  his  hand  upon 
a  juvenile  natural  history. 

Possibly  it  was  as  a  result  of  Newbery's  request  that  we 
have  the  anonymous  "Jacky  Dandy's  Delight"  and  "Tommy 
Trip's  History  of  Beasts  and  Birds."  The  former  appears 
to  be  a  good  example  of  Goldsmith's  facility  for  amusing 
himself  when  doing  hack-work  for  Newbery.  How  like 
Goldsmith's  manner  is  this  description  of  a  monkey : 

"The  monkey  mischievous 
Like  a  naughty  boy  looks; 
Who  plagues  all  his  friends, 
And  regards  not  his  books. 

"He  is  an  a6tive,  pert,  busy  animal,  who  mimicks  human 
adions  so  well  that  some  think  him  rational.  The  Indians  say, 
he  can  speak  if  he  pleases,  but  will  not  lest  he  should  be  set  to 
work.  Herein  he  resembles  those  naughty  little  boys  who  will 
not  learn  A,  lest  they  should  be  obliged  to  learn  B,  too.  He  is 
a  native  of  warm  countries,  and  a  useless  beast  in  this  part 
of  the  world;  so  I  shall  leave  him  to  speak  of  another  that 
is  more  bulky,  and  comes  from  cold  countries :  I  mean  the 
Bear." 

To  poke  fun  in  an  offhand  manner  at  little  boys  and  girls 
seemed  to  have  been  the  only  conception  of  humor  to  be 
found  in  the  children's  books  of  the  period,  if  we  except  the 
f' Jests  "  and  the  attempts  made  in  a  ponderous  manner  on 

[  i°8  ] 


American  Nursery 

the  title-pages.  The  title  of  "The  Pidure  Exhibition;  contain- 
ing the  Original  Drawings  of  Eighteen  Disciples.  .  .  .  Pub- 
lished under  the  Inspection  of  Mr.  Peter  Paul  Rubens, . . ." 
is  evidently  one  of  Newbery's  efforts  to  be  facetious.  To  the 
author,  the  pretence  that  the  pidures  were  by  "Disciples  of 
I  Peter  Paul  Rubens"  evidently  conveyed  the  same  idea  of  wit 
that  "Punch"  has  at  times  represented  to  others  of  a  later 
century. 

Fables  have  always  been  a  mine  of  interest  to  young  folks, 
and  were  interspersed  liberally  with  all  moral  tales,  but  "En- 
tertaining Fables"  bears  upon  its  title-page  a  suggestion  that 
the  children's  old  friend,  "Aesop,"  appeared  in  a  new  dress. 

Another  series  of  books  contained  the  much  abridged 
novels  written  for  the  older  people.  "  Peregrine  Pickle  "  and 
"Roderick  Random"  were  both  reprinted  by  Isaiah  Thomas 
as  early  as  seventeen  hundred  and  eighty-eight.  These  tales 
of  adventure  seem  to  have  had  their  small  refledions  in  such 
stories  as  "  The  Adventures  of  a  Pincushion,"  and  "  The 
Adventures  of  a  Peg-top,"  by  Dorothy  Kilner,  an  English- 
woman. Mention  has  already  been  made  of  "Pamela"  and 
"Clarissa"  in  condensed  form.  These  were  books  of  over 
two  hundred  pages ;  but  most  of  the  toy-books  were  limited 
to  less  than  one  hundred.  A  remarkable  instance  of  the  pith 
of  a  long  plot  put  into  small  compass  was  "  The  History  of 
Tom  Jones."  A  dog-eared  copy  of  such  an  edition  of  "Tom 
Jones"  is  still  in  existence.  Its  flowery  Dutch  binding  covers 
only  thirty-one  pages,  four  inches  long,  with  a  frontispiece 
and  five  wood-cut  illustrations.  In  so  small  a  space  no  detailed 
account  of  the  life  of  the  hero  is  to  be  expeded;  nevertheless, 

[  109  ] 


J 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

the  first  paragraph  introduces  Tom  as  no  ordinary  foundhng. 
Mr.  AUworthy  finds  the  infant  in  his  bed  one  evening  and 
rings  up  his  housekeeper  Mrs.  Deborah  Wilkins.  "She  being 
astrid  observer  of  decency  was  exceedingly  alarmed,  on  enter- 
ing her  master's  room,  to  find  him  undressed,  but  more  so  on 
his  presenting  her  with  the  child,  which  he  ordered  imme- 
diately to  be  taken  care  of"  The  story  proceeds — with  little 
punduation  to  enable  the  reader  to  take  breath — to  tell  how 
the  infant  is  named,  and  how  Mr.  Allworthy's  nephew,  Mas- 
ter Bilfil,  is  also  brought  under  that  generous  and  respedable 
gentleman's  protedion.  Tommy  turned  out  "good,"  as  Mr. 
AUworthy  had  hoped  when  he  assumed  charge  of  him;  and 
therefore  eventually  inherited  riches  and  gained  the  hand  of 
Miss  Sophia  Western,  with  whom  he  rode  about  the  country 
in  their  "  Coach  and  Six." 

Of  the  stories  in  this  juvenile  library,  the  names,  at  least, 
of  "Giles  Gingerbread,"  "Little  King  Pippin,"  and  "Goody 
Two-Shoes"  have  been  handed  down  through  various  gen- 
erations. One  hundred  years  ago  every  child  knew  that "  Little 
King  Pippin"  attained  his  glorious  end  by  attention  to  his 
books  in  the  beginning  of  his  career ;  that "  Giles  Gingerbread  " 
first  learned  his  alphabet  from  gingerbread  letters,  and  later 
obtained  the  patronage  of  a  fine  gentleman  by  spelling  "  apple- 
pye  "  corredly.  Thus  did  his  digestion  prove  of  material  assist- 
ance in  mental  gymnastics. 

But  the  nursery  favorite  was  undoubtedly  "Margery,  or 
Little  Goody  Two-Shoes."  She  was  introduced  to  the  reader  in 
her  "state  of  rags  and  care,"  from  which  she  gradually  emerged 
in  the  chapters  entitled,  "How  and  about  Little  Margery  and 

[ "°] 


30  The  Puzzliiig-Cap. 


A  COFFIN. 


Illustration  of  Riddle  XIF 
in  ''The  Puzzling-Cap" 


y 

American  Nursery 

her  Brother;"  "How  Little  Margery  obtained  the  name  of 
Goody  Two-Shoes;"  "How  she  became  a  Tutoress"  to  the 
farmers'  families  in  which  she  taught  spelling  by  a  game ;  and 
how  they  all  sang  the  "  Cuz's  Chorus  "  in  the  intervals  between 
the  spelhng  lesson  and  the  composition  of  sentences  like  this: 
"  I  pray  God  to  bless  the  whole  country,  and  all  our  friends 
and  all  our  enemies."  Like  the  usual  heroine  of  eighteenth 
century  fidion,  she  married  a  title,  and  as  Lady  Jones  was  the 
Lady  Bountiful  of  the  distrid.  From  these  tales  it  is  clear  that  ^' 
piety  as  the  chief  end  of  the  story-book  child  has  been  suc- 
ceeded by  learning  as  the  desideratum;  yet  morality  is  still 
pushed  into  evidence,  and  the  American  mother  undoubtedly 
translated  the  ethical  sign-boards  along  the  progress  of  the 
tale  into  Biblical  admonitions. 

All  the  books  were  didadic  in  the  extreme.  A  series  of  four,    , 
called  "  The  Mother's,"  "  Father's,"  "  Sister's,"  and  "  Brother's    i 
Gifts,"  is  a  good  example  of  this  didadic  method  of  story-    ' 
telling.  "  The  Father's  Gift  "  has  lessons  in  speUing  preceded 
by  these  lines : 

"  Let  me  not  join  with  those  in  Play, 

Who  fibs  and  stories  tell, 

I  with  my  Book  will  spend  the  Day, 

And  not  with  such  Boys  dwell. 

For  one  rude  Boy  will  spoil  a  score 

As  I  have  oft  been  told ; 

And  one  bad  sheep,  in  Time,  is  sure 

To  injure  all  the  Fold." 

"The  Mother's  Gift"  was  confined  largely  to  the  same  in- 
strudive  field,  but  had  one  or  two  stories  which  conformed 
to  the  sentiment  of  the  author  of  "  The  Adventures  of  a  Pin- 

[  III  ] 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

cushion,"  who  stated  her  motive  to  be  "That  of  providing 
the  young  reader  with  a  few  pages  which  should  be  innocent 
of  corrupting  if  they  did  not  amuse." 

"The  Brother's"  and  "Sister's  Gifts,"  however,  adopt 
a  different  plan  of  instrudion.  In  "The  Brother's  Gift"  we 
find  a  brother  solicitous  concerning  his  sister's  education: 
"  Miss  Kitty  Bland  was  apt,  forward  and  headstrong ;  and 
had  it  not  been  for  the  care  of  her  brother,  Billy,  would  have 
probably  witnessed  all  the  disadvantages  of  a  modern  edu- 
cation"! Upon  Kitty's  return  from  boarding-school,  "she 
could  neither  read,  nor  sew,  nor  write  grammatically,  dancing 
stiff  and  awkward,  her  musick  inelegant,  and  everything  she 
did  bordered  strongly  on  affedation."  Here  was  a  large  field 
for  reformation  for  Billy  to  effe6i:.  He  had  no  doubts  as  to 
what  method  to  pursue.  She  was  desired  to  make  him  twelve 
shirts,  and  when  the  first  one  was  presented  to  him,  "he  was 
astonished  to  find  her  lacking  in  so  useful  a  female  accom- 
plishment." Exemplary  conversation  produced  such  results 
that  the  rest  of  the  garments  were  satisfadory  to  the  critical 
Billy,  who,  "as  a  mark  of  approbation  made  her  a  present 
of  a  fine  pair  of  stays." 

"The  Sister's  Gift"  presents  an  opposite  pidure.  In  this 
case  it  is  Master  Courtley  who,  a  "youth  of  Folly  and  Idle- 
ness," received  large  doses  of  advice  from  his  sister.  This 
counsel  was  so  efficient  with  Billy's  sensitive  nature  that 
before  the  story  ends,  "he  wept  bitterly,  and  declared  to  his 
sister  that  she  had  painted  the  enormity  of  his  vices  in  such 
striking  colors,  that  they  shocked  him  in  the  greatest  degree; 
and  promised  ever  after  to  be  as  remarkable  for  generosity, 

[  "2] 


American  Nursery 

compassion  and  every  other  virtue  as  he  had  hitherto  been 
for  cruelty,  forwardness  and  ill-nature."  Virtue  in  this  instance 
was  its  own  reward,  as  Billy  received  no  gift  in  recognition 
of  his  changed  habits. 

To  the  modern  lover  of  children  such  tales  seem  strangely 
ill-suited  to  the  childish  mind,  losing,  as  they  do,  all  tender- 
ness in  the  effort  of  the  authors  (so  often  confided  to  parents 
in  the  preface)  "to  express  their  sentiments  with  propriety." 
Such  criticism  of  the  style  and  matter  of  these  early  attempts 
to  write  for  little  people  was  probably  not  made  by  either 
infant  or  adult  readers  of  that  old-time  public.  The  children 
read  what  was  placed  before  them  as  intelledual  food,  plain 
and  sweetened,  as  unconcernedly  as  they  ate  the  food  upon 
their  plates  at  meal-time.  That  their  own  language  was  the 
formal  one  of  the  period  is  shown  by  such  letters  as  the 
following  one  from  Mary  Wilder,  who  had  just  read  "  The 
Mother's  Gift:" 

Lancaster,  Oftober  9th,  1789. 

HoND.  Madm: 

Your  goodness  to  me  I  cannot  express.  My  mind  is  con- 
tinually crowded  with  your  kindness.  If  your  goodness  could 
be  rewarded,  I  hope  God  will  repay  you.  If  you  remember, 
some  time  ago  I  read  a  story  in  "The  Mother's  Gift,"  but  I 
hope  I  shall  never  resemble  Miss  Gonson.  O  Dear!  What 
a  thing  it  is  to  disobey  one's  parents.  I  have  one  of  the  best 
Masters.  He  gave  me  a  sheet  of  paper  this  morning.  I  hope 
Uncle  Flagg  will  come  up.  I  am  quite  tired  of  looking  for 
Betsy,  but  I  hope  she  will  come.  When  school  is  done 
keeping,  I  shall  come  to  Sudbury.  What  a  fine  book  Mrs. 

[  113  ] 


^i 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 


Chapone's  Letters  is :  My  time  grows  short  and  I  must  make 
my  letter  short. 

Your  dutiful  daughter, 

P.  W. 

Nursery  rhymes  and  jingles  of  these  present  days  have  all  de- 
scended from  song-books  of  the  eighteenth  century,  entitled 
"Little  Robin  Red  Breast,"  "A  Poetical  Description  of  Song 
Birds,"  "Tommy  Thumb's  Song-Book,"  and  the  famous 
"Melodies  of  Mother  Goose,"  whose  name  is  happily  not  yet 
relegated  to  the  days  of  long  ago.  Two  extrads  from  the 
"Poetical  Description  of  Song  Birds"  will  be  sufficient  to 
show  how  foreign  to  the  birds  familiar  to  American  children 
were  the  descriptions: 

The  Bullfinch 
This  lovely  bird  is  charming  to  the  sight : 
The  back  is  glossy  blue,  the  belly  white, 
A  jetty  black  shines  on  his  neck  and  head; 
His  breast  is  flaming  with  a  beauteous  red. 

The  Twite 
Green  like  the  Linnet  it  appears  to  sight, 
And  like  the  Linnet  sings  from  morn  till  night. 
A  reddish  spot  upon  his  rump  is  seen, 
Short  is  his  bill,  his  feathers  always  clean: 
When  other  singing  birds  are  dull  or  nice, 
To  sing  again  the  merry  Twites  entice. 

Refledions  of  the  prevailing  taste  of  grown  people  for  bio- 
graphy are  suggested  in  three  little  books,  of  two  of  which  the 
author  was  Mrs.  Pilkington,  who  had  already  written  several 
successful  stories  for  young  ladies.  Her  "Biography  for  Girls" 

["4] 


y 

American  Nursery 

contains  various  novelettes,  in  each  of  which  the  heroine  lives 
the  conventional  life  and  dies  the  conventional  death  of  the 
period,  and  receives  a  laudatory  epitaph.  They  are  remark- 
able only  as  being  devoid  of  any  interest.  Her  "Biography  for 
Boys"  does  not  appear  to  have  attained  the  same  popularity 
as  that  for  girls.  A  third  book,  "  The  Juvenile  Biographers," 
containing  the  "Lives  of  Little  Masters  and  Misses,"  is  repre- 
sentative of  the  changes  made  in  many  books  by  the  printer 
to  cater  to  that  pride  in  the  young  Republic  so  manifest  in  all 
local  literary  produdions.  In  one  biography  we  note  a  Repre- 
sentative to  the  Massachusetts  Assembly: 

"As  Master  Sammy  had  always  been  a  very  sober  and 
careful  child,  and  very  attentive  to  his  Books,  it  is  no  wonder 
that  he  proved,  in  the  End,  to  be  an  excellent  Scholar. 

"Accordingly,  when  he  had  reached  the  age  of  fourteen, 
Mr.  William  Goodall,  a  wealthy  merchant  in  the  city  of  Bos- 
ton, took  him  into  his  counting  house,  in  order  to  bring  him 
up  in  the  merchantile  Way,  and  thereby  make  his  Fortune. 
P  "  This  was  a  sad  Stroke  to  his  poor  Sister  Nancy,  who  hav- 
ing lost  both  her  Papa  and  Mama,  was  now  likely  to  lose  her 
Brother  likewise;  but  Sammy  did  all  he  could  to  appease  her, 
and  assured  her,  that  he  would  spend  all  his  leisure  Time 
with  her.  This  he  most  pundually  performed,  and  never  were 
Brother  and  Sister  as  happy  in  each  other's  company  as  they 
were. 

"  Mr.  William  Goodall  was  highly  satisfied  with  Sammy's 
Behaviour,  and  dying  much  about  the  Time  that  Miss  Nancy 
was  married  to  the  Gentleman,  he  left  all  his  business  to 
Sammy,  together  with  a  large  Capital  to  carry  it  on.  So  much 

["5] 


^'  4i 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

is  Mr.  Careful  esteemed  (for  we  must  now  no  longer  call  him 
Master  Sammy)  that  he  was  chosen  in  the  late  General  Elec- 
tion, Representative  in  the  General  Court,  for  one  of  the  first 
SP      Towns  in  New  England,  without  the  least  expense  to  himself 
N^  We  here  see  what  are  the  EfFeds  of  Good  Behaviour." 

1  This  adaptation  of  the  English  tale  to  the  surroundings  of 
'  the  American  child  is  often  found  in  Thomas's  reprints,  and 
naturally,  owing  to  his  enthusiasm  over  the  recent  change  in 
the  form  of  government,  is  made  wholly  by  political  references. 
Therefore  while  the  lark  and  the  linnet  still  sang  in  songs  and 
the  cowslips  were  scattered  throughout  the  nature  descriptions. 
Master  Friendly  no  longer  rode  in  the  Lord  Mayor's  coach, 
but  was  seated  as  a  Congressman  in  a  sedan  chair,  "and  he 
looked — he  looked — I  do  not  know  what  he  looked  like,  but 
everybody  was  in  love  with  him."  The  engraver  as  well  as 
the  biographer  of  the  recently  made  Representative  was  evi- 
dently at  a  loss  as  to  his  appearance,  as  the  four  dots  indi- 
cating the  young  gentleman's  features  give  but  a  blank  look 
perhaps  intended  to  denote  amazement  at  his  eledion. 

The  illustrations  of  Thomas's  toy  reprints  should  not  be 
overlooked.  The  Worcester  printer  seems  to  have  rewritten 
the  "Introdudion"  to  "Goody  Two-Shoes,"  and  at  the  end 
he  affixed  a  "Letter  from  the  Printer  which  he  desires  may 
be  inserted. 

Sir  :  I  have  come  with  your  copy,  and  so  you  may  return  it 
to  the  Vatican,  if  you  please;  and  pray  tell  Mr.  Angelo  to 
brush  up  his  cuts;  that  in  the  next  edition  they  may  give  us 
a  good  impression." 

[ii6] 


Goody  Tivcjhocs, 


American  Nursery 

This  apology  for  the  charader  of  the  illustrations  serves  as  an 
introdudion  to  a  most  interesting  subje6t  of  conjedure  as  to 
the  making  of  the  cuts,  and  particularly  as  to  the  engraving 
of  the  frontispiece  in  "Goody  Two-Shoes." 

It  will  be  remembered  that  Isaiah  Thomas  in  his  adver- 
tisement to  booksellers  had  expressly  mentioned  the  great 
expense  he  had  incurred  in  bringing  out  the  juvenile  books 
in  "the  English  method."  But  Mr.  Edwin  Pearson,  in  his 
delightful  discussion  of  "Banbury  Chap-Books,"  has  also 
stated  that  the  wood-cut  frontispiece  in  the  first  American 
edition  of  "Goody  Two-Shoes,"  printed  by  Thomas,  was 
engraved  by  Bewick,  the  famous  English  illustrator.  A  com- 
parison of  the  reprodudion  of  the  Bewick  engraving  in 
Mr.  Pearson's  book  with  the  frontispiece  in  Thomas's  edi- 
tion shows  so  much  difference  that  it  is  a  matter  of  regret 
that  Mr.  Pearson  withheld  his  authority  for  attributing  to 
Bewick  the  representation  of  Margery  Two-Shoes.  Besides 
the  inference  from  Thomas's  letter  that  the  poor  cuts  would 
be  improved  before  another  edition  should  be  printed,  there 
are  several  points  to  be  observed  in  comparing  the  cuts.  In 
the  first  place,  the  execution  in  the  Thomas  cut  suggests 
a  different  hand  in  the  use  of  the  tools;  again,  the  reversed 
position  of  the  figure  of  "Goody"  indicates  a  copy  of  the 
English  original.  Also  the  expression  of  Thomas's  heroine, 
although  slightly  mincing,  is  less  distressed  than  the  British 
dame's,  to  say  nothing  of  the  variation  in  the  fashion  of  the 
gowns.  And  such  details  as  the  replacing  of  the  English 
landscape  by  the  spire  of  a  meeting-house  in  the  distance 
seem  to  confirm  the  impression  that  the  drawing  was  made 

[  1^7  ] 


Forgotten  Booh 

after,  but  not  by  Bewick.  In  the  cuts  scattered  throughout 
the  text  the  same  difference  in  execution  and  portrayal  of  the 
little  schoolmistress  is  noticeable.  Margery,  upon  her  rounds 
to  teach  the  farmers'  children  to  spell  such  words  as  "plumb- 
pudding"  "(and  who  can  suppose  a  better?),"  presents  her 
full  face  in  the  Newbery  edition,  and  but  a  three-quarter  view 
to  her  American  admirers. 

These  fads,  together  with  the  knowledge  that  Isaiah 
Thomas  was  a  fair  engraver  himself,  make  it  possible  that 
his  apology  for  the  first  impression  of  the  tiny  classic  was 
for  his  own  engraving,  which  he  thought  to  better. 

Thomas  not  only  copied  and  pirated  Newbery's  juvenile 
histories,  but  he  adopted  his  method  of  advertising  by  inser- 
tions in  the  text  of  these  tales.  For  example,  in  "The  Travels 
of  Robinson  Crusoe,  Written  by  Himself,"  the  little  reader 
was  told,  "If  you  learn  this  Book  well  and  are  good,  you 
can  buy  a  larger  and  more  complete  History  of  Mr.  Crusoe 
at  your  friend  the  Bookseller's  in  Worcester  near  the  Court 
House."  In  "The  Mother's  Gift,"  there  is  described  well- 
brought-up  Miss  Nugent  displaying  to  ill-bred  Miss  Jones, 
"  a  pretty  large  coUedion  of  books  neatly  bound  and  nicely 
kept,"  all  to  be  had  of  Mr.  Thomas;  and  again  Mr.  Careful, 
in  "Virtue  and  Vice,"  "presented  at  Christmas  time  to  the 
sons  and  daughters  of  his  friends,  little  Gilt  Books  to  read, 
such  as  are  sold  at  Mr.  Thomas'  near  the  Court  House  in 
Worcester." 

Thomas  and  his  son  continued  to  send  out  these  toy- 
books  until  their  gay  bindings  faded  away  before  the  nov- 
elty of  the  printed  paper  covers  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

[  "8] 


1 


CHAPTER  V 

1790-1800 


By  Washington 

Great  deeds  were  done. 

'The  Neixj  England  Primer y 

New  York,  1794 

Line  after  line  their  wisdom  flows 
Page  after  page  repeating. 

T.  G.  Hake 


(/ 


CHAPTER  V 

1790-1800 

The  Child  and  his  Book  at  the  End  of  the  Century 

A  NY  attempt  to  trace  the  slow  development  of  the 
/"V  American  child's  story  of  the  nineteenth  century 
must  inevitably  be  made  through  the  school-books  written 
during  the  previous  one.  Before  this,  English  books  had 
been  adapted  to  the  American  trade.  But  now  the  continued  / 
interest  in  education  produced  text-books  pervaded  with  ' 
the  American  spirit.  They  cannot,  therefore,  be  ignored  as 
sporadically  in  the  springtime  of  the  young  Republic,  they, 
like  crocuses,  thrust  forward  in  the  different  states  their  blue 
and  yellow  covers. 

Next  to  clergymen,  schoolmasters  received  the  veneration 
of  the  people,  for  learning  and  godliness  went  hand  in  hand. 
It  was  the  schoolmaster  who  reinforced  the  efforts  of  the  par- 
ents to  make  good  Americans  of  the  young  folks,  by  compil- 
ing text-books  which  outsold  the  English  ones  hitherto  used. 
In  the  new  editions  of  the  old  "New  England  Primer,"  laud- 
atory verse  about  General  Washington  replaced  the  alphabet 

rhyme : 

"Whales  in  the  Sea 
God's  Voice  obey." 

Proud  parents  thereafter  heard  their  infants  lisp : 

"By  Washington 
Great  deeds  were  done." 

For  older  pupils  Noah  Webster's  speller  almost  superseded 
Dilworth's,  and  his  "Little  Readers'  Assistant"  became  the 

[  i^i  ] 


(/ 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

First  Reader  of  many  children.  Webster  as  schoolmaster  in 
a  country  district  prepared  this  book  for  his  own  scholars. 
It  was  printed  in  Hartford  in  seventeen  hundred  and  ninety, 
and  contained  a  list  of  subjeds  suitable  for  farmers'  children: 

I.  A  number  of  Stories  mostly  taken  from  the  history  of 
America,  and  adorned  with  Cuts. 
II.  Rudiments  of  English  Grammar. 

III.  The  Federal  Catechism,  being  a  short  and  easy  explana- 
tion of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 

IV.  General  principles  of  Government  and  Commerce. 

V.  Farmers'  Catechism  containing  plain  rules  of  husbandry. 

Bennington,  Vermont,  contributed  in  "The  Little  Scholar's 

Pretty  Pocket  Companion  in  Rhyme  and  Verse,"  this  indired 

allusion  to  political  affairs: 

"  *T  was  a  toy  of  royalty,  of  late  almost  forgot, 
'T  is  said  she  represented  France 
On  English  Monarchies  arms, 
But  lately  broke  his  chains  by  chance 
And  widely  spread  alarms." 

But  the  most  naive  attempt  to  inculcate  patriotism  together 
with  a  lesson  in  obedience  is  found  in  "  The  Child's  Instruc- 
tor," published  about  seventeen  hundred  and  ninety-one,  and 
written  by  a  Philadelphian.  Philadelphia  had  become  the 
residence  of  the  President — a  fad  that  may  account  for  one 
of  the  stories  in  this  book  about  an  infant  prodigy  called 
Billy.  "  The  child  at  five  years  of  age  was  always  good  and 
obedient,  and  prone  to  make  such  a  remark  as, '  If  you  would 
be  wise  you  must  always  attend  to  your  vowels  and  conso- 
nants.' When  General  Washington  came  to  town  Billy's 

[  122  ] 


i/ 


American  Nursery 

mama  asked  him  to  say  a  speech  to  the  ladies,  and  he  began, 
'Americans !  place  constantly  before  your  eyes,  the  deplorable 
scenes  of  your  servitude,  and  the  enchanting  pidure  of  your 
deliverance.  Begin  with  the  infant  in  his  cradle ;  let  the  first 
word  he  lisps  be  Washington'  The  ladies  were  all  delighted 
to  hear  Billy  speak  so  well.  One  said  he  should  be  a  lawyer, 
and  another  said  he  should  be  President  of  the  United  States. 
But  Billy  said  he  could  not  be  either  unless  his  mama  gave 
him  leave."  "^ 

Another  Philadelphian  attempted  to  embody  political  sen- 
timent in  "A  Tale  —  The  Political  Balance;  or.  The  Fate 
of  Britain  and  America  Compared."  This  juvenile  has  long 
since  disappeared,  but  it  was  advertised  by  its  printer,  Francis 
Bailey,  in  seventeen  hundred  and  ninety-two,  together  with 
"The  History  of  the  Little  Boy  found  under  a  Haycock,"  and 
several  other  books  for  children.  One  year  later  a  "History 
of  the  American  Revolution"  for  children  was  also  printed  in 
Philadelphia  for  the  generation  who  had  been  born  since  the 
war  had  ended.  This  was  written  in  the  Biblical  phraseology 
introduced  and  made  popular  by  Franklin  in  his  famous 
"Parable  against  Persecution." 

This  enthusiasm  over  the  results  of  the  late  war  and  scorn 
for  the  defeated  English  sometimes  indeed  cropped  out  in  the 
Newbery  reprints.  An  edition  (i  796)  of  "Goody  Two-Shoes" 
contains  this  footnote  in  reference  to  the  tyranny  of  the  Eng- 
lish landlord  over  Goody's  father: 

''Such  is  the  state  of  things  in  Britain.  AMERICANS  prize 
your  liberty.,  guard  your  rights  and  he  happy''  f 

*Mi88  Hewins,  Atlantic  Monthly^  vol.  Ixi,  p.  112.  f  Brynberg.  Wilmington,  1796. 

[  "3  ] 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

In  this  last  decade  of  the  century  that  had  made  a  nation 
of  the  colonial  commonwealths,  the  prosperity  of  the  coun- 
try enabled  more  printers  to  pirate  the  generally  approved 
Newbery  library.  Samuel  Hall  in  Boston,  with  a  shop  near 
the  court-house,  printed  them  all,  using  at  times  the  dainty 
covers  of  flowery  Dutch  or  gilt  paper,  and  again  another 
style  of  binding  occasionally  used  in  England.  "The  Death 
and  Burial  of  Cock  Robin,"  for  instance,  has  a  quaint  red 
and  gilt  cover,  which  according  to  Mr.  Charles  Welsh  was 
made  by  stamping  paper  with  dies  originally  used  for  print- 
ing old  German  playing-cards.  He  says:  "To  find  such  a 
cover  can  only  be  accounted  for  by  the  innocence  of  the 
purchasers  as  to  the  appearance  of  his  Satanic  Majesty's 
pidure  cards  and  hence  [they]  did  not  recognize  them." 
In  one  corner  of  the  book  cover  is  impressed  the  single 
word  "Miinch,"  which  stamps  this  paper  as  "made  in  Ger- 
many." Hall  himself  was  probably  as  ignorant  of  the  origi- 
nal purpose  of  the  pidure  as  the  unsuspeding  purchaser, 
who  would  cheerfully  have  burned  it  rather  than  see  such  an 
instrument  of  the  Devil  in  the  hands  of  its  owner,  little  Sally 
Barnes. 

Of  Samuel  Hall's  reprints  from  the  popular  English  pub- 
lications, "Little  Truths"  was  in  all  probabiHty  one  of  the 
most  salable.  So  few  books  contained  any  information  about 
America  that  one  of  these  two  volumes  may  be  regarded  as 
of  particular  interest  to  the  young  generation  of  his  time. 
The  author  of  "Little  Truths,"  William  Darton,  a  Quaker 
publisher  in  London,  does  not  divulge  from  what  source  he 
gleaned  his  knowledge.  His  information  concerning  Ameri- 

[  1^4] 


FROSTTISPIliCE 


S^  Walter  Raleigk  andicuixLaxi.. 


American  Nursery 

cans  is  of  that  misty  description  that  confuses  Indians  ("na- 
tive Americans")  with  people  of  Spanish  and  English  de- 
scent. The  usual  "Introdudion"  states  that  "The  author  has 
chose  a  method  after  the  manner  of  conversations  between 
children  and  their  instructor,"  and  the  dialogue  is  indicated  by- 
printing  the  children's  observations  in  italics.  These  volumes 
were  issued  for  twenty  years  after  they  were  introduced  by 
Hall,  and  those  of  an  eighteen  hundred  Philadelphia  edition 
are  bound  separately.  Number  one  is  in  blue  paper  with  cop- 
per-plate pidures  on  both  covers.  This  volume  gives  informa- 
tion regarding  farm  produce,  live-stock,  and  about  birds  quite 
unfamiliar  to  American  children.  But  the  second  volume,  in 
white  covers,  introduces  the  story  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  and 
his  pipe-smoking  incident,  made  very  realistic  in  the  copper- 
plate frontispiece.  The  children's  question,  "  Did  Sir  Walter 
Raleigh  find  out  the  virtues  of  tobacco?"  affords  an  excellent 
opportunity  for  a  discourse  upon  smoking  and  snuff-taking. 
These  remarks  conclude  with  this  prosaic  statement:  "Hun- 
dreds of  sensible  people  have  fell  into  these  customs  from 
example ;  and,  when  they  would  have  left  them  off,  found  it 
a  very  great  difficulty."  Next  comes  a  lesson  upon  the  growth 
of  tobacco  leading  up  to  a  short  account  of  the  slave-trade, 
already  a  subjed  of  differing  opinion  in  the  United  States, 
as  well  as  in  England.  Of  further  interest  to  small  Americans 
was  a  short  tale  of  the  discovery  of  this  country.  Perhaps  to 
most  children  their  first  book-knowledge  of  this  event  came 
from  the  pages  of  "  Little  Truths." 

Hall's  books  were  not  all  so  proper  for  the  amusement 
of  young  folks.  A  perusal  of  "  Capt.  Gulliver's  Adventures  " 

[  "S  ] 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

leaves  one  in  no  doubt  as  to  the  reason  that  so  many  of  the 
old-fashioned  mothers  preferred  to  keep  such  tales  out  of 
children's  hands,  and  to  read  over  and  over  again  the  adven- 
tures of  the  Pilgrim,  Christian.  Mrs.  Eliza  Drinker  of  Phila- 
delphia in  seventeen  hundred  and  ninety-six  was  re-reading 
for  the  third  time  "Pilgrim's  Progress,"  which  she  considered 
a  "generally  approved  book,"  although  then  "ridiculed  by 
many."  The  "Legacy  to  Children"  Mrs.  Drinker  also  read 
aloud  to  her  grandchildren,  having  herself  "wept  over  it 
between  fifty  and  sixty  years  ago,  as  did  my  grandchil- 
dren when  it  was  read  to  them.  She,  Hannah  Hill,  died  in 
1714,  and  ye  book  was  printed  in  1714  by  Andrew  Brad- 
ford." 

But  Mrs.  Drinker's  grandchildren  had  another  book  very 
different  from  the  pious  sayings  of  the  dying  Hannah.  This 
contained  "64  little  stories  and  as  many  pidures  drawn  and 
written  by  Nancy  Skyrin,"  the  mother  of  some  of  the  chil- 
dren. P.  Widdows  had  bound  the  stories  in  gilt  paper,  and 
it  was  so  prized  by  the  family  that  the  grandmother  thought 
the  fad  of  the  recovery  of  the  book,  after  it  was  supposed  to 
have  been  irretrievably  lost,  worthy  of  an  entry  in  her  jour- 
nal. Careful  inquiry  among  the  descendants  of  Mrs.  Drinker 
has  led  to  the  belief  that  these  stories  were  read  out  of  exist- 
ence many  years  ago.  What  they  were  about  can  only  be 
imagined.  Perhaps  they  were  incidents  in  the  lives  of  the  same 
children  who  cried  over  the  pathetic  morbidity  of  Hannah's 
dying  words;  or  possibly  rhymes  and  verses  about  school 
and  play  hours  of  little  Philadelphians;  with  pidures  show- 
ing bait-the-bear,  trap-ball,  and  other  sports  of  days  long  since 

[  "6] 


Fc?cpt  Bali 


<// 


American  Nursery 

passed  away,  as  well  as  "  I  Spie  Hi "  and  marbles,  familiar  still 
to  boys  and  girls. 

From  the  fad  that  these  stories  were  written  for  the  au- 
thor's own  children,  another  book,  composed  less  than  a  cen- 
tury before,  is  brought  to  mind.  Comparison  of  even  the  mea- 
gre description  of  Mrs.  Skyrin's  book  with  Cotton  Mather's 
professed  purpose  in  "Good  Lessons"  shows  the  stride  made 
in  children's  literature  to  be  a  long  one.  Yet  a  quarter  of 
a  century  was  still  to  run  before  any  other  original  writing 
was  done  in  America  for  children's  benefit. 

Nobody  else  in  America,  indeed,  seems  to  have  considered 
the  question  of  writing  for  nursery  inmates.  Mrs.  Barbauld's 
"  Easy  Lessons  for  Children  from  Two  to  Five  Years  old,"  writ- 
ten for  English  children,  were  considered  perfedly  adapted 
to  gaining  knowledge  and  perhaps  amusement.  It  is  true  that 
when  Benjamin  Bache  of  Philadelphia  issued  "Easy  Les- 
sons," he  added  this  note :  "  Some  alterations  were  thought 
necessary  to  be  made  in  this  . . .  American  edition,  to  make  it 
agree  with  the  original  design  of  rendering  instrudion  easy 
and  useful.  .  .  .  The  climate  and  the  familiar  objeds  of  this 
country  suggested  these  alterations."  Except  for  the  substitu- 
tion of  such  words  as  "Wheat"  for  "Corn,"  the  intentions  of 
the  editor  seem  hardly  to  have  had  result,  except  by  way  of 
advertisement;  and  are  of  interest  merely  because  they  repre- 
sent one  step  further  in  the  diredion  of  Americanizing  the 
story-book  literature. 

All  Mrs.  Barbauld's  books  were  considered  excellent  for 
young  children.  As  a  "Dissenter,"  she  gained  in  the  esteem 
of  the  people  of  the  northern  states,  and  her  books  were  im- 

[  '^7] 


J^ 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

ported  as  well  as  reprinted  here.  Perhaps  she  was  best  known 

to  our  grandparents  as  the  joint  author,  with  Dr.  Aikin,  of 

"  Evenings  at  Home,"  and  of  "  Hymns  in  Prose  and  Verse." 

Both  were  read  extensively  for  fifty  years.  The  "Hymns"  had 

an  enormous  circulation,  and  were  often  full  of  fine  rhythm 

and  undeserving  of  the  entire  negled  into  which  they  have 

I  fallen.  Of  course,  as  the  fashion  changed  in  the  "approved" 

';  type  of  story,  Mrs.  Barbauld  suffered  criticism.  "Mrs.  and  Miss 

Edgeworth  in  their  '  Pradical  Education '  insisted  that  evil 

lurked  behind  the  phrase  in  'Easy  Lessons,'  'Charles  wants 

his  dinner'  because  of  the  implication  'that  Charles  must 

;  have  whatever  he  desires,'  and  to  say  'the  sun  has  gone  to  bed,' 

is  to  incur  the  odium  of  telling  the  child  a  falsehood."  ^ 

But  the  manner  in  which  these  critics  of  Mrs.  Barbauld 
thought  they  had  improved  upon  her  method  of  story-telling 
I  is  a  tale  belonging  to  another  chapter.  When  Miss  Edge- 
I  worth's  wave  of  popularity  reached  this  country  Mrs.  Bar- 
!  bauld's  ideas  still  flourished  as  very  acceptable  to  parents. 
,       A  contemporary  and  rival  writer  for  the  English  nursery 
was  Mrs.  Sarah  Trimmer.  Her  works  for  little  children  were 
1  also  credited  with  much  information  they  did  not  give.  After 
the  publication  of  Mrs.  Barbauld's  "  Easy  Lessons "  (which 
was  the  result  of  her  own  teaching  of  an  adopted  child),  Mrs. 
Trimmer's  friends  urged  her  to  make  a  like  use  of  the  les- 
sons given  to  her  family  of  six,  and  accordingly  she  pub- 
lished in  seventeen  hundred  and  seventy-eight  an  "Easy 
Introdudion  into  the  Knowledge  of  Nature,"  and  followed  it 
some  years  after  its  initial  success  by  "  Fabulous  Histories,'* 

*  Miss  Repplier,  Atlantic  Monthlyy  vol.  Ivii,  p.  509. 

[  128] 


»y 


American  Nursery 

afterwards  known  as  the  "  History  of  the  Robins."  Although 
Mrs.  Trimmer  represents  more  nearly  than  Mrs.  Barbauld 
the  religious  emotionalism  pervading  Sunday-school  libraries, 
— in  which  she  was  deeply  interested,  —  the  work  of  both 
these  ladies  exemplifies  the  transitional  stage  to  that  Labor- 
in-Play  school  of  writing  which  was  to  invade  the  American 
nursery  in  the  next  century  when  Parley  and  Abbott  throve 
upon  the  proceeds  of  the  educational  narrative. 

Defoe's  "Robinson  Crusoe"  and  Thomas  Day's " Sanford 
and  Merton"  occupied  the  place  in  the  estimation  of  boys 
that  the  doings  of  Mrs.  Barbauld's  and  Mrs.  Trimmer's  works 
held  in  the  opinion  of  the  younger  members  of  the  nursery. 
Edition  followed  upon  edition  of  the  adventures  of  the  famous 
island  hero.  In  Philadelphia,  in  seventeen  hundred  and  ninety- 
three,  William  Young  issued  what  purported  to  be  the  sixth 
edition.  In  New  York  many  thousands  of  copies  were  sold, 
and  in  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-four  we  find  a  Spanish 
translation  attesting  its  widespread  favor.  In  seventeen  hun- 
dred and  ninety-four,  Isaiah  Thomas  placed  the  surprising 
adventures  of  the  mariner  as  on  the  "Coast  of  America,  lying 
near  the  mouth  of  the  great  river  Oroonoque." 

Parents  also  thought  very  highly  of  Thomas  Day's  "Chil- 
dren's Miscellany"  and  "Sanford  and  Merton."  To  read  this 
last  book  is  to  believe  it  to  be  possibly  in  the  style  that 
Dr.  Samuel  Johnson  had  in  mind  when  he  remarked  to 
Mrs.  Piozzi  that  "the  parents  buy  the  books  but  the  children 
never  read  them."  Yet  the  testimony  of  publishers  of  the  past '; 
is  that " Sanford  and  Merton"  had  a  large  and  continuous  sale  ■ 
for  many  years.  " '  Sanford  and  Merton,' "  writes  Mr.  Julian  * 

[  129  ] 


I 


J 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

Hawthorne,  "ran  'Robinson  Crusoe'  harder  than  any  other 
work  of  the  eighteenth  century  particularly  written  for  chil- 
dren." "The  work,"  he  adds,  "is  quaint  and  interesting  rather 
to  the  historian  than  to  the  general,  especially  the  child,  reader. 
Children  would  hardly  appreciate  so  amazingly  ancient  a  form 
of  conversation  as  that  which  resulted  from  Tommy  [the  bad 
boy  of  the  story]  losing  a  ball  and  ordering  a  ragged  boy  to 
pick  it  up : 

"'Bring  my  ball  diredly!' 

"'I  don't  choose  it,'  said  the  boy. 

"'Sirrah,'  cried  Tommy,  'if  I  come  to  you  I  will  make 
you  choose  it.' 

"'Perhaps  not,  my  pretty  master,'  said  the  boy. 

"'You  little  rascal,'  said  Tommy,  who  now  began  to  be 
very  angry, '  if  I  come  over  the  hedge  I  will  thrash  you  within 
an  inch  of  your  life.' " 

The  gist  of  Tommy's  threat  has  often  been  couched  in 
modern  language  by  grandsons  of  the  boys  from  whom  the 
Socratic  Mr.  Day  wrote  to  expose  the  evils  of  too  luxurious 
an  education.  His  method  of  compilation  of  fads  to  be  taught 
may  best  be  given  in  the  words  of  his  Preface :  "All  who  have 
been  conversant  in  the  education  of  very  young  children, 
have  complained  of  the  total  want  of  proper  books  to  be  put 
in  their  hands,  while  they  are  taught  the  elements  of  read- 
ing. .  .  .  The  least  exceptional  passages  of  books  that  I  could 
find  for  the  purpose  were  'Plutarch's  Lives'  and  Xenophon's 
'  History  of  the  Institution  of  Cyrus,'  in  Enghsh  translation; 
with  some  part  of'  Robinson  Crusoe,'  and  a  few  passages  from 
Mr.  Brooke's  'Fool  of  Quality.'  ...  I  therefore  resolved  .  .  . 

[  130  ] 


American  Nursery 

not  only  to  colled  all  such  stories  as  I  thought  adapted  to 
the  faculties  of  children,  but  to  conned  these  by  continued 
narration.  ...  As  to  the  histories  themselves,  I  have  used  the 
most  unbounded  licence.  ...  As  to  the  language,  I  have  en- 
deavored to  throw  into  it  a  greater  degree  of  elegance  and 
ornament  than  is  usually  to  be  met  with  in  such  compositions; 
preserving  at  the  same  time  a  sufficient  degree  of  simplicity 
to  make  it  intelligible  to  very  young  children,  and  rather 
choosing  to  be  diffuse  than  obscure."  With  these  objeds  in 
mind,  we  can  understand  small  Tommy's  embellishment  of 
his  demand  for  the  return  of  his  ball  by  addressing  the  ragged 
urchin  as  "Sirrah." 

Mr.  Day's  "Children's  Miscellany"  contained  a  number  of 
stories,  of  which  one,  "The  History  of  Little  Jack,"  about 
a  lost  child  who  was  adopted  by  a  goat,  was  popular  enough 
to  be  afterwards  published  separately.  It  is  a  debatable  ques- 
tion as  to  whether  the  parents  or  the  children  figuring  in  this 
"Miscellany"  were  the  more  artificial.  "Proud  and  unfeeling 
girl,"  says  one  tender  mother  to  her  little  daughter  who  had 
bestowed  half  her  pin  money  upon  a  poor  family, — "proud 
and  unfeeling  girl,  to  prefer  vain  and  trifling  ornaments  to 
the  delight  of  relieving  the  sick  and  miserable !  Retire  from 
my  presence !  Take  away  with  you  trinket  and  nosegay,  and 
receive  from  them  all  the  comforts  they  are  able  to  bestow!" 
Why  Mr.  Day's  stories  met  with  such  unqualified  praise  at 
the  time  they  were  published,  this  example  of  canting  rubbish 
does  not  reveal.  In  real  life  parents  certainly  did  retain  some 
of  their  substance  for  their  own  pleasure ;  why,  therefore,  dis- 
cipline a  child  for  following  the  same  inclination? 

[  131  ] 


J  Forgotten  Books  of  the 

In  contrast  to  Mr.  Day's  method,  Mrs.  Barbauld's  plan  of 
simple  conversation  in  words  of  one,  two,  and  three  sylla- 
;  bles  seems  modern.  Both  aimed  to  afford  pleasure  to  children 
"  learning  the  elements  of  reading."  Where  Mrs.  Barbauld 
probably  judged  truly  the  capacity  of  young  children  in  the 
dialogues  with  the  little  Charles  of  "Easy  Lessons,"  Mr.  Day 
loaded  his  gun  with  flowers  of  rhetoric  and  overshot  infant 
comprehension. 

Nevertheless,  in  spite  of  the  criticism  that  has  waylaid  and 
torn  to  tatters  Thomas  Day's  efforts  to  provide  a  suitable 
and  edifying  variety  of  stories,  his  method  still  stands  for  the 
:  distind  secularization  of  children's  literature  of  amusement. 
Moreover,  as  Mr.  Montrose  J.  Moses  writes  in  his  delightful 
study  of  "Children's  Books  and  Reading,"  "he  foreshadowed 
the  method  of  retelling  incidents  from  the  classics  and  from 
standard  history  and  travel, — a  form  which  is  pradised  to 
a  great  extent  by  our  present  writers,  who  thread  diverse 
materials  on  a  slender  wire  of  subsidiary  story,  and  who,  like 
Butterworth  and  Knox,  invent  untiring  families  of  travellers 
who  go  to  foreign  parts,  who  see  things,  and  then  talk  out 
loud  about  them." 

Besides  tales  by  English  authors,  there  was  a  French  wo- 
man, Madame  de  Genlis,  whose  books  many  educated  people 
regarded  as  particularly  suitable  for  their  daughters,  both  in 
I  the  original  text  and  in  the  English  translations.  In  Aaron 
Burr's  letters  we  find  references  to  his  interest  in  the  progress 
made  by  his  little  daughter,  Theodosia,  in  her  studies.  His 
zeal  in  searching  for  helpful  books  was  typical  of  the  care 
many  others  took  to  place  the  best  literature  within  their 

[  132  ] 


American  Nursery 

children's  reach.  From  Theodosia's  own  letters  to  her  father 
we  learn  that  she  was  a  studious  child,  who  wrote  and  ci- 
phered from  five  to  eight  every  morning  and  during  the 
same  hours  every  evening.  To  improve  her  French,  Mr.  Burr 
took  pains  to  find  reading-matter  when  his  law  pradice  ne- 
cessitated frequent  absence  from  home.  Thus  from  West 
Chester,  in  seventeen  hundred  and  ninety-six,  when  Theo- 
dosia  was  nine  years  old,  he  wrote: 

I  rose  up  suddenly  from  the  sofa  and  nibbing  my  head — 
"What  book  shall  I  buy  for  her?"  said  I  to  myself  "She 
reads  so  much  and  so  rapidly  that  it  is  not  easy  to  find  proper 
and  amusing  French  books  for  her;  and  yet  I  am  so  flattered 
with  her  progress  in  that  language,  that  I  am  resolved  that 
she  shall,  at  all  events,  be  gratified."  So  ...  I  took  my  hat 
and  sallied  out.  It  was  not  my  first  attempt.  I  went  into  one 
bookseller's  after  another.  I  found  plenty  of  fairy  tales  and 
such  nonsense,  for  the  generality  of  children  of  nine  or  ten 
years  old.  "These,"  said  I,  "will  never  do.  Her  understand- 
ing begins  to  be  above  such  things."  ...  I  began  to  be  dis- 
couraged. "But  I  will  search  a  little  longer."  I  persevered. 
At  last  I  found  it.  I  found  the  very  thing  I  sought.  It  is  con- 
tained in  two  volumes,  odavo,  handsomely  bound,  and  with 
prints  and  reprints.  It  is  a  work  of  fancy  but  replete  with  in- 
struction and  amusement.  I  must  present  it  with  my  own  hand. 

Yr.  aflfedionate 

A.  Burr. 

What  speculation  there  must  have  been  in  the  Burr  family 
as  to  the  name  of  the  gift,  and  what  joy  when  Mr.  Burr  pre- 

[  133  ] 


^ 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

sented  the  two  volumes  upon  his  return !  From  a  letter  written 
later  by  Mr.  Burr  to  his  wife,  it  appears  that  he  afterward 
found  reason  to  regret  his  purchase,  which  seems  to  have  been 
Madame  de  Genlis's  famous  "Annales."  "Your  account," 
he  wrote,  "of  Madame  Genlis  surprises  me,  and  is  new  evi- 
dence of  the  necessity  of  reading  books  before  we  put  them  in 
the  hands  of  children."  Opinion  differed,  of  course,  concerning 
the  French  lady's  books.  In  New  York,  in  Miss  Dodsworth's 
most  genteel  and  fashionable  school,  a  play  written  from  "The 
Dove  "  by  Madame  de  Genlis  was  a6ted  with  the  same  zest  by 
little  girls  of  ten  and  twelve  years  of  age  as  they  showed  in 
another  play  taken  from  "The  Search  after  Happiness,"  a 
drama  by  the  Quakeress  and  religious  writer,  Hannah  More. 
These  plays  were  given  at  the  end  of  school  terms  by  fond 
parents  with  that  appreciation  of  the  histrionic  ability  of  their 
daughters  still  to  be  seen  on  such  occasions. 

No  such  objedion  as  Mrs.  Burr  made  to  this  lady's 
"Annales "  was  possible  in  regard  to  another  French  book,  by 
iBerquin.  Entitled  "Ami  des  Enfans,"  it  received  under  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Cooper's  translation  the  name  "The  Looking  Glass 
for  the  Mind."  This  collection  of  tales  supposedly  mirrored 
the  frailties  and  virtues  of  rich  and  poor  children.  It  was  often 
bound  in  full  calf,  and  an  edition  of  seventeen  hundred  and 
ninety-four  contains  a  better  engraved  frontispiece  than  it  was  | 
customary  to  place  in  juvenile  publications.  For  half  a  century 
it  was  to  be  found  in  the  shop  of  all  booksellers,  and  had  its 
place  in  the  library  of  every  family  of  means.  There  are  still 
those  among  us  who  have  not  forgotten  the  impression  pro- 
duced upon  their  infant  minds  by  certain  of  the  tales.  Some 

[  134] 


American  Nursery 

remember  the  cruel  child  and  the  canary.  Others  recoiled 
their  admiration  of  the  little  maid  who,  when  all  others  de- 
serted her  young  patroness,  lying  ill  with  the  smallpox,  won 
the  undying  gratitude  of  the  mother  by  her  tender  nursing. 
The  author,  blind  himself  to  the  possibilities  of  detriment  to 
the  sick  child  by  unskilled  care,  held  up  to  the  view  of  all, 
this  example  of  devotion  of  one  girl  in  contrast  to  the  hard- 
heartedness  of  many  others.  This  book  seems  also  to  have 
been  called  by  the  literal  translation  of  its  original  title,  "Ami 
des  Enfans;"  for  in  an  account  of  the  occupations  of  one  sum- 
mer Sunday  in  seventeen  hundred  and  ninety-seven,  Julia 
Cowles,  living  in  Litchfield,  Connedicut,  wrote :  "  Attended 
meeting  all  day  long,  but  do  not  recoiled  the  text.  Read  in 
'The  Children's  Friend.'"  Many  children  would  not  have 
been  permitted  to  read  so  nearly  secular  a  book;  but  evidently 
Julia  Cowles's  parents  were  liberal  in  their  view  of  Sunday 
reading  after  the  family  had  attended  "meeting  all  day  long." 

In  addition  to  the  interest  of  the  context  of  these  toy-books 
of  a  past  generation,  one  who  handles  such  relics  of  a  cen- 
tury ago  sees  much  of  the  fashions  for  children  of  that  day. 
In  "  The  Looking  Glass,"  for  instance,  the  illustrations  copied 
from  engravings  by  the  famous  English  artist,  Bewick,  show 
that  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century  children  were  still 
clothed  like  their  elders;  the  coats  and  waistcoats,  knee 
breeches  and  hats,  of  boys  were  patterned  after  gentlemen's 
garments,  and  the  caps  and  aprons,  kerchiefs  and  gowns,  for 
girls  were  reprodudions  of  the  mothers'  wardrobes. 

Again,  the  fly-leaf  of  "The  History  of  Master  Jacky  and 
Miss  Harriot"  arrests  the  eye  by  its  quaint  inscription: 

[  '35] 


J 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

"Rozella  Ford's  Book.  For  being  the  second  speller  in  the 
second  class."  At  once  the  imagination  calls  up  the  exercises 
in  a  village  school  at  the  end  of  a  year's  session :  a  row  of  prim 
little  maids  and  sturdy  boys,  standing  before  the  school  dame 
and  by  turn  spelling  in  shrill  tones  words  of  three  to  five  syl- 
lables, until  only  two,  Rozella  and  a  better  speller,  remain 
unconfused  by  Dil worth's  and  Webster's  word  mysteries. 
Then  the  two  children  step  forward  with  bow  and  curtsey 
to  receive  their  tiny  gilt  prizes  from  a  pile  of  duodecimos 
upon  the  teacher's  desk.  Indeed,  the  giving  of  rewards  was 
carried  to  such  an  extent  as  to  become  a  great  drain  upon 
the  meagre  stipend  of  the  teacher.  Thus  when  in  copper-plate 
handwriting  we  find  in  another  six-penny  volume  the  inscrip- 
tion: "Benjamin  H.  Bailey,  from  one  he  esteems  and  loves, 
Mr.  Hapgood,"  we  read  between  its  lines  the  self-denial  prac- 
tised by  Mr.  Hapgood,  who  possibly  received,  like  many 
other  teachers,  but  seventy-five  cents  a  week  besides  his  board 
and  lodging. 

Other  books  afford  a  glimpse  of  children's  life :  the  formal 
every-day  routine,  the  plays  they  enjoyed,  and  their  demon- 
stration of  a  sensibility  as  keen  as  was  then  in  fashion  for 
adults.  The  "History  of  a  Doll,"  lying  upon  the  writer's 
table,  is  among  the  best  in  this  respe6t.  It  was  evidently 
much  read  by  its  owner  and  fairly  "  loved  to  pieces."  When 
it  reached  this  disintegrated  stage,  a  careful  mother,  or  aunt, 
sewed  it  with  coarse  flax  thread  inside  a  home-made  cover 
of  bright  blue  wall-paper.  Although  the  "History  of  the  Ped- 
igree and  Rise  of  the  Pretty  Doll"  bears  no  date,  its  com- 
panion story  in  the  wall-paper  wrapper  has  the  imprint  sev- 

[  136] 


American  Nursery 

enteen  hundred  and  ninety-one,  and  diis,  together  with  the 
press-work,  places  it  as  belonging  to  the  eighteenth  century. 
It  offers  to  the  reader  a  charming  insight  into  the  formality 
of  many  an  old-fashioned  family :  the  deportment  stiff  with 
the  starched  customs  of  that  day,  the  seriousness  of  their  fun, 
and  the  sensibility  among  little  maidens  akin  to  that  exhibited 
in  the  heroines  of  fidion  created  by  Richardson  and  Fielding. 
The  chapter  concerning  "The  Pedigree  of  the  Doll"  treats 
of  finding  a  branch  of  a  tree  by  a  carver,  who  was  desired 
by  Sir  John  Amiable  to  make  one  of  the  best  dolls  in  his 
power  for  his  "pretty  little  daughter  who  was  as  good  as  she 
was  pretty."  The  carver  accordingly  took  the  branch  and 
began  carving  out  the  head,  shoulders,  body,  and  legs,  which 
he  soon  brought  to  their  proper  shape.  "  He  then  covered  it 
with  a  fine,  flesh-colored  enamel  and  painted  its  cheeks  in 
the  most  lively  manner.  It  had  the  finest  black  and  spark- 
ling eyes  that  were  ever  beheld ;  its  cheeks  resembled  the 
blushing  rose,  its  neck  the  lilly,  and  its  lips  the  coral."  The 
doll  is  presented,  and  the  next  chapter  tells  of  "an  assembly 
of  little  female  gossips  in  full  debate  on  the  clothing  of  the 
doll."  "  Miss  Polly  having  made  her  papa  a  vast  number  of 
courtesies  for  it,  prevailed  on  her  brother  to  go  round  to  all 
the  little  gossips  in  the  neighborhood,  begging  their  company 
to  tea  in  the  afternoon,  in  order  to  consult  in  what  mode 
the  doll  should  be  dressed."  The  company  assembled.  "Miss 
Micklin  undertook  to  make  it  a  fine  ruffled  laced  shift,  Miss 
Mantua  to  make  it  a  silk  sacque  and  petticoat;  and  in  short, 
every  one  contributed,  in  some  measure,  to  dress  out  this 
beautiful  creature." 

C  '37] 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

*' Everything  went  on  with  great  harmony  till  they  came 
to  the  head-dress  of  the  doll;  and  here  they  differed  so  much 
in  opinion,  that  all  their  little  clappers  were  going  at  once. 
.  .  .  Luckily,  at  this  instant  Mrs.  Amiable  happened  to  come 
in,  and  soon  brought  the  httle  gossips  to  order.  The  matter 
in  dispute  was,  whether  it  should  have  a  high  head-dress  or 
whether  the  hair  should  come  down  on  the  forehead,  and 
the  curls  flow  in  natural  ringlets  on  the  shoulders.  However, 
after  some  pretty  warm  debate,  this  last  mode  was  adopted, 
as  most  proper  for  a  little  miss."  In  chapter  third  "The  doll 
is  named: — Accidents  attend  the  Ceremony."  Here  we  have 
a  pidure  of  a  children's  party.  "  The  young  ladies  and  gen- 
tlemen were  entertained  with  tea  and  coffee;  and  when  that 
was  over,  each  was  presented  with  a  glass  of  raisin  wine." 
During  the  christening  ceremony  an  accident  happened  to 
the  doll,  because  Master  Tommy,  the  parson,  "in  endeavour- 
ing to  get  rid  of  it  before  the  little  gossips  were  ready  to 
receive  it,  made  a  sad  blunder.  .  .  .  Miss  Polly,  with  tears  in 
her  eyes,  snatched  up  the  doll  and  clasped  it  to  her  bosom; 
while  the  rest  of  the  little  gossips  turned  all  the  little  mas- 
ters out  of  the  room,  that  they  might  be  left  to  themselves 
to  inquire  more  privately  into  what  injuries  the  dear  doll  had 
received.  .  .  .  Amidst  these  alarming  considerations  Tommy 
Amiable  sent  the  ladies  word,  that,  if  they  would  permit  him 
and  the  rest  of  the  young  gentlemen  to  pass  the  evening 
among  them  in  the  parlour,  he  would  engage  to  replace  the 
nose  of  the  doll  in  such  a  manner  that  not  the  appearance 
of  tiie  late  accident  should  be  seen."  Permission  was  accord- 
ingly granted  for  a  surgical  operation  upon  the  nose,  but 

[138] 


American  Nursery 

"as  to  the  fradure  in  one  of  the  doll's  legs,  it  was  never  cer- 
tainly known  how  that  was  remedied,  as  the  young  ladies 
thought  it  very  indelicate  to  mention  anything  about  the 
matter."  The  misadventures  of  the  doll  include  its  theft  by 
a  monkey  in  the  West  Indies,  and  at  this  interesting  point 
the  only  available  copy  of  the  tale  is  cut  short  by  the  loss  of 
the  last  four  pages.  The  charm  of  this  book  lies  largely  in  the 
fad  that  the  owner  of  the  doll  does  not  grow  up  and  marry  as 
in  almost  every  other  novelette.  This  difference,  of  course, 
prevents  the  story  from  being  a  typical  one  of  its  period,  but 
it  is,  nevertheless,  a  worthy  forerunner  of  those  tales  of  the 
nineteenth  century  in  which  an  effort  was  made  to  write 
about  incidents  in  a  child's  life,  and  to  avoid  the  biographical 
tendency. 

Before  leaving  the  books  of  the  eighteenth  century,  one  tale 
must  be  mentioned  because  it  contains  the  germ  of  the  idea 
which  has  developed  into  Mr.  George's  "Junior  Republic." 
It  was  called  "Juvenile  Trials  for  Robbing  Orchards,  Telling 
Tales  and  other  Heinous  Offenses."  "This,"  said  Dr.  Aikin 
— Mrs.  Barbauld's  brother  and  collaborator  in  "Evenings 
at  Home" — "is  a  very  pleasing  and  ingenious  little  Work, 
in  which  a  Court  of  Justice  is  supposed  to  be  instituted  in  a 
school,  composed  of  the  Scholars  themselves,  for  the  purpose 
of  trying  offenses  committed  at  School."  In  "Trial  the  First" 
Master  Tommy  Tell-Truth  charges  Billy  Prattle  with  rob- 
bing an  orchard.  The  jury,  after  hearing  Billy  express  his 
contrition  for  his  ad,  brings  in  a  verdid  of  guilty;  but  the 
judge  pardons  the  culprit  because  of  his  repentant  frame  of 
mind.  Miss  Delia,  the  offender  in  case  Number  I'wo,  does  not 

[  139  ] 


•u 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

escape  so  lightly.  Miss  Stirling  charges  her  with  raising  con- 
tention and  strife  among  her  school-fellows  over  a  piece  of 
angelica,  "whereby,"  say  her  prosecutors,  "one  had  her  favorite 
cap  torn  to  pieces,  and  her  hair  which  had  been  that  day  nicely 
dressed,  pulled  all  about  her  shoulders;  another  had  her  sack 
torn  down  the  middle;  a  third  had  a  fine  flowered  apron  of 
her  own  working,  reduced  to  rags;  a  fourth  was  wounded  by 
a  pelick,  or  scratch  of  her  antagonist,  and  in  short,  there  was 
hardly  one  among  them  who  had  not  some  mark  to  shew 
of  having  been  concerned  in  this  unfortunate  affair."  That 
the  good  Dr.  Aikin  approved  of  the  punishment  decreed, 
we  are  sure.  The  little  prisoner  was  condemned  to  pass  three 
days  in  her  room,  as  just  penalty  for  such  "indelicate"  be- 
haviour. 

f      By  the  close  of  the  century  Miss  Edgeworth  was  beginning 

\  to  supersede  Mrs.  Barbauld  in  England;  but  in  America  the 

j  taste  in  juvenile  reading  was  still  satisfied  with  the  older  writ- 

I  er's  little  Charles,  as  the  corred  model  for  children's  deport- 

I  ment,  and  with  Giles  Gingerbread  as  the  exemplary  student. 

The  child's  lessons  had  passed  from  "Be  good  or  you  will 

go  to  Hell"  to  "Be  good  and  you  will  be  rich;"  or,  with  the 

Puritan  element  still  so  largely  predominant,  "Be  good  and 

,  you  will  go  to  Heaven."  Virtue  as  an  ethical  quality  had  been 

I  shown  in  "Goody  Two-Shoes"  to  bring  its  reward  as  surely 

\  as  vice  brought  punishment.  It  is  to  be  doubted  if  this  was 

altogether  wholesome ;  and  it  may  well  be  that  it  was  with  this 

idea  in  mind  that  Dr.  Johnson  made  his  celebrated  criticism 

of  the  nursery  literature  in  vogue,  when  he  said  to  Mrs.  Piozzi, 

"  Babies  do  not  want  to  be  told  about  babies;  they  like  to 

[  140  ] 


■J 

American  Nursery 

be  told  of  giants  and  castles,  and  of  somewhat  which  can 
stretch  and  stimulate  their  little  minds."  "^ 

The  learned  Dodor,  having  himself  been  brought  up  on 
"Jack  the  Giant  Killer"  and  "The  History  of  Blue  Beard," 
was  inclined  to  scorn  Newbery's  tales  as  lacking  in  imagina- 
tive quality.  That  Dr.  Johnson  was  really  interested  in  stories 
for  the  young  people  of  his  time  is  attested  by  a  note  written 
in  seventeen  hundred  and  sixty-three  on  the  fly-leaf  of  a  col- 
ledion  of  chap-books :  "  I  shall  certainly,  sometime  or  other, 
write  a  little  Story-Book  in  the  style  of  these.  I  shall  be  happy 
to  succeed,  for  he  who  pleases  children  will  be  remembered 
by  them."  f 

In  America,  however,  it  is  doubtful  whether  any  true  criti- 

Ical  spirit  regarding  children's  books  had  been  reached.  Fortu- 
nately in  England,  at  the  beginning  of  the  next  century,  there 
was  a  man  who  dared  speak  his  opinion.  Mrs.  Barbauld  and 

I  Mrs.  Trimmer  (who  had  contributed  "Fabulous  Histories" 
to  the  juvenile  library,  and  for  them  had  shared  the  approval  ; 
which  greeted  Mrs.  Barbauld's  efforts)  were  the  objeds  of  ' 
Charles  Lamb's  particular  detestation.  In  a  letter  to  Coleridge, 
written  in  1802,  he  said: 

"Goody  Two  Shoes  is  almoft  out  of  print.  Mrs.  Barbauld's 
fluff  haf  banifhed  all  the  old  claffics  of  the  nurfery,  and  the 
fhopman  at  Newbery's  hardly  deigned  to  reach  them  off  an 
old  exploded  corner  of  a  fhelf,  when  Mary  afked  for  them. 
Mrs.  Barbauld's  and  Mrs.  Trimmer's  nonfenfe  lay  in  piles 
about.  Knowledge  infignificant  and  vapid  as  Mrs.  Barbauld's 
books  convey,  it  feems,  muit  come  to  a  child  in  the  fhape 

*  Hill,  Johnsonian  Miscellany^  vol.  i,  p.  157.  ^  Ibid, 

[HI  ] 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

of  knowledge ;  and  hif  empty  noddle  muft  be  turned  with 
conceit  of  hif  own  powers  when  he  has  learned  that  a  horfe 
is  an  animal  and  Billy  is  better  than  a  horfe,  and  fuch  like, 
inftead  of  that  beautiful  intereft  in  wild  tales,  which  made 
the  child  a  man,  while  all  the  time  he  fufpeded  himfelf  to 
be  no  bigger  than  a  child.  Science  has  fucceeded  to  poetry 
no  lefs  in  the  little  walks  of  children  than  of  men.  Is  there 
no  poffibiHty  of  arrefting  this  force  of  evil?  Think  what  you 
would  have  been  now,  if  inftead  of  being  fed  with  tales  and 
old  wives'  fables  in  childhood,  you  had  been  crammed  with 
geography  and  natural  hiftory.  Hang  them !  I  mean  the  curfed 
Barbauld  crew,  thofe  blights  and  blafts  of  all  that  is  human 
in  man  and  child."  ^ 

To  Lamb's  extremely  sensitive  nature,  the  vanished  hand 
of  the  literary  man  of  Grub  Street  could  not  be  replaced  by 
Mrs.  Barbauld's  wish  to  instrud  by  using  simple  language. 
It  is  possible  that  he  did  her  some  injustice.  Yet  a  retrospedive 
glance  over  the  story-book  literature  evolved  since  Newbery's 
juvenile  library  was  produced,  shows  little  that  was  not  poor 
in  quality  and  untrue  to  life.  Therefore,  it  is  no  wonder  that 
Lamb  should  have  cried  out  against  the  sore  evil  which  had 
"beset  a  child's  mind."  All  the  poetry  of  life,  all  the  imagi- 
j  native  powers  of  a  child,  Mrs.  Barbauld,  Mrs.  Trimmer,  and 
Mr.  Day  ignored;  and  Newbery  in  his  way,  and  the  old  bal- 
lads  in  their  way,  had  appealed  to  both. 

In  both  countries  the  passion  for  knowledge  resulted  in 
this  curious  literature  of  amusement.  In  England  books  were 
written;  in  America  they  were  reprinted,  until  a  religious 

*  Welsh,  IntroduB'ion  to  Goody  Tivo  Shoes^  p.  x. 

[   H2  ] 


American  Nursery 

revival  left  in  its  wake  the  series  of  morbid  and  educational 
tales  which  the  desire  to  write  original  stories  for  American 
children  produced. 


[  143  ] 


CHAPTER  VI 

1800-1825 


Her  morals  then  the  Matron  read, 
Studious  to  teach  her  Children  dear, 
And  they  by  love  or  Duty  led, 
With  Pleasure  read. 

A  Mother  s  Remarks , 

Philadelphia,  1810 

Mama!  see  what  a  pretty  book 
At  Day's  papa  has  bought, 
That  I  may  at  its  pi6tures  look, 
And  by  its  words  be  taught. 


CHAPTER  VI 

1800-1825 
Toy-Books  in  the  Early  Nineteenth  Century 

ON  the  23d  of  December,  1823,  there  appeared  anony- 
mously in  the  "Troy  (New  York)  Sentinel,"  a  Christ- 
mas ballad  entitled  "A  Visit  from  St.  Nicholas."  This  rhymed 
story  of  Santa  Claus  and  his  reindeer,  written  one  year  before 
its  publication  by  Clement  Clarke  Moore  for  his  own  family, 
marks  the  appearance  of  a  truly  original  story  in  the  literature 
of  the  American  nursery. 

We  have  seen  the  somewhat  lugubrious  influence  of  Puri- 
tan and  Quaker  upon  the  occasional  writings  for  American 
children;  and  now  comes  a  story  bearing  upon  its  face  the 
features  of  a  Dutchman,  as  the  jolly  old  gentleman  enters 
nursery  lore  with  his  happy  errand. 

Up  to  this  time  children  of  wholly  English  extradion  had 
probably  little  association  with  the  Feast  of  St.  Nicholas.  The 
Christmas  season  had  hitherto  been  regarded  as  pagan  in  its 
origin  by  people  of  Puritan  or  Scotch  descent,  and  was  cele- 
brated only  as  a  religious  festival  by  the  descendants  of  the 
more  liberal  adherents  to  the  Church  of  England.  The  Dutch 
element  in  New  York,  however,  still  clung  to  some  of  their 
traditions;  and  the  custom  of  exchanging  simple  gifts  upon 
Christmas  Day  had  come  down  to  them  as  a  result  of  a  com- 
bination of  the  church  legend  of  the  good  St.  Nicholas,  pa- 
tron of  children,  and  the  Scandinavian  myth  ofthe  fairy  gnome, 
who  from  his  bower  in  the  woods  showered  good  children  with 

[  H7  ] 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

gifts.*  But  to  celebrate  the  day  quietly  was  altogether  a  differ- 
ent thing  from  introducing  to  the  American  public  the  char- 
ader  of  Santa  Claus,  who  has  become  in  his  mythical  entity  as 
well  known  to  every  American  as  that  other  Dutch  legendary 
personage,  Rip  Van  Winkle. 

In  the  "  Visit  from  St.  Nicholas  "  Mr.  Moore  not  only  intro- 
duced Santa  Claus  to  the  young  folk  of  the  various  states,  but 
gave  to  them  their  first  story  of  any  lasting  merit  whatsoever. 
It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  as  every  impulse  to  write  for  juve- 
nile readers  has  lagged  behind  the  desire  to  write  for  adults, 
so  the  composition  of  these  familiar  verses  telling  of  the 
arrival  in  America  of  the  mysterious  and  welcome  visitor  on 

"  The  night  before  Christmas,  when  all  through  the  house 
Not  a  creature  was  stirring,  not  even  a  mouse," 

fell  at  the  end  of  that  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century  to 
which  we  are  accustomed  to  refer  as  the  beginning  of  the 
national  period  of  American  literature. 

It  is,  of  course,  true  that  the  older  children  of  that  period 
had  already  begun  to  enjoy  some  of  the  writings  of  Irving  and 
Cooper,  and  to  learn  the  fortunately  still  familiar  verses  by 
Hopkinson,  Key,  Drake,  and  Halleck.  School-readers  have 
served  to  familiarize  generation  after  generation  with  "  Hail 
Columbia,"  "The  Star  Spangled  Banner,"  and  sometimes 
with  "The  American  Flag."  It  is,  doubtless,  their  authors' 
jubilant  enthusiasm  over  the  freedom  of  the  young  Republic 
that  has  caused  the  children  of  the  more  mature  nation  to 
delight  in  the  repetition  of  the  patriotic  verses.  The  youth- 

*A8  long  ago  as  seventeen  hundred  and  sixty-two,  Garrat  Noel,  a  Dutch  bookseller  in 
New  York,  advertised  that,  "according  to  his  Annual  Custom,  he  .  .  .  provided  a  very  large 
Assortment  of  Books  ...  as  proper  Presents  at  Christmas."  See  page  68. 

[  h8  ]  : 


American  Nursery 

ful  extravagance  of  expression  pervading  every  line  is  re- 
echoed in  the  heart  of  the  schoolboy,  who  likes  to  imagine 
himself,  before  anything  else,  a  patriot.  But  until  "Bonder 
and  Blitzen"  pranced  into  the  foreground  as  Santa  Claus' 
steeds,  there  was  nothing  in  American  nursery  literature  of 
any  lasting  fame.  Thereafter,  as  the  custom  of  observing 
Christmas  Day  gradually  became  popular,  the  perennial 
small  child  felt — until  automobiles  sent  reindeer  to  the 
Hmbo  of  bygone  things — the  thrill  of  delight  and  fear  over 
the  annual  visit  of  Santa  Claus  that  the  bigger  child  expe- 
riences in  exploding  fire-crackers  on  the  Fourth  of  July. 
There  are  possibilities  in  both  excitements  which  appeal  to 
one  of  the  child's  dearest  possessions  —  his  imagination. 

It  is  this  dired  appeal  to  the  imagination  that  surprises 
and  delights  us  in  Mr.  Moore's  ballad.  To  re-read  it  is  to 
be  amazed  that  anything  so  full  of  merriment,  so  modern, 
so  free  from  pompousness  or  condescension,  from  pedantry 
or  didadicism,  could  have  been  written  before  the  latter  half 
of  the  nineteenth  century.  Not  only  its  style  is  simple  in  con- 
trast with  the  labored  efforts  at  simplicity  of  its  contempo- 
raneous verse,  but  its  story  runs  fifty  years  ahead  of  its  time 
in  its  freedom  from  the  restraining  hand  of  the  moralist  and 
from  the  warning  finger  of  the  religious  teacher,  if  we  except 
Nathaniel  Hawthorne's  "Wonder  Book." 

In  our  examination  of  the  toy-books  of  twenty  years  pre- 
^ceding  its  publication,  we  shall  find  nothing  so  attradive  in 
manner,  nor  so  imaginative  in  conception.  Indeed,  we  shall 
see,  upon  the  one  hand,  that  fun  was  held  in  with  such  a  tight 
curb  that  it  hardly  ever  escaped  into  print;  and  upon  the  other 

[  H9  ] 


v-J  Forgotten  Books  of  the 

hand  that  the  imagination  had  little  chance  to  develop  because 
of  the  prodigal  indulgence  in  realities  and  in  religious  experi- 
ence from  which  all  authors  suffered.  We  shall  also  see  that 
I  these  realities  were  made  very  uncompromising  and  uncom- 
fortable to  run  counter  to.  Duty  spelled  in  capital  letters  was 
a  stumbling-block  with  which  only  the  well-trained  story-book 
child  could  successfully  cope;  recreation  followed  in  small 
portions  large  shares  of  instrudion,  whether  disguised  or  bare 
faced.  The  Religion-in-Play,  the  Ethics-in-Play,  and  the  Labor- 
in-Play  schools  of  writing  for  children  had  arrived  in  America 
from  the  land  of  their  origin. 

The  stories  in  vogue  in  England  during  this  first  quarter 
of  the  nineteenth  century  explain  every  vagary  in  America. 
There  fashionable  and  educational  authorities  had  hitched 
their  wagon  to  the  literary  star,  Miss  Edgeworth,  and  the  fol- 
lowers of  her  system;  while  the  religiously  inclined  pinned 
their  faith  also  upon  trads  written  by  Miss  Hannah  More.  In 
this  still  imitative  land  the  booksellers  simply  reprinted  the 
more  successful  of  these  juvenile  publications.  The  changes, 
therefore,  in  the  charader  of  the  juvenile  literature  of  amuse- 
ment of  the  early  nineteenth  century  in  America  were  due  to 
the  adoption  of  the  works  of  these  two  Englishwomen,  and 
to  the  increased  facilities  for  reproducing  toy-books,  both  in 
press-work  and  in  illustrations. 

Hannah  More's  allegories  and  religious  dramas,  written  to 
cooperate  with  the  teachings  of  the  first  Sabbath  Day  schools, 
are,  of  course,  outside  the  literature  of  amusement.  Yet  they 
aflfeded  its  type  in  America  as  they  undoubtedly  gave  direc- 
tion to  the  eflforts  of  the  early  writers  for  children. 

[  150] 


American  Nursery 

Miss  More,  born  in  seventeen  hundred  and  fifty-four,  was 
a  woman  of  already  established  literary  reputation  when  her 
attention  was  attraded  by  Robert  Raikes's  successful  experi- 
ment of  opening  a  Sunday-school,  in  seventeen  hundred  and 
eighty-one.  During  the  religious  revival  that  attended  the 
preaching  of  George  White  field,  Raikes,  already  interested 
in  the  hardships  and  social  condition  of  the  working-classes, 
was  further  aroused  by  his  intimate  knowledge  of  the  manner 
of  life  of  some  children  in  a  pin  fadory.  To  provide  instruc- 
tion for  these  child  laborers,  who,  without  work  or  restridions 
on  Sundays,  sought  occupation  far  from  elevating,  Raikes 
founded  the  first  "Sabbath  Day  school." 

The  movement  spread  rapidly  in  England,  and  ten  years 
later,  in  seventeen  hundred  and  ninety-one,  under  the  inspira- 
tion of  Bishop  White,  the  pioneer  First  Day  school  in  America 
was  opened  in  Philadelphia.  The  good  Bishop  was  disturbed 
mentally  by  the  religious  and  moral  degeneracy  of  the  poor 
children  in  his  diocese,  and  annoyed  during  church  services 
by  their  clamor  outside  the  churches — a  noise  often  sufficient 
to  drown  the  prayers  of  his  flock  and  the  sermons  of  his  clergy. 
tTo  occupy  these  restless  children  for  a  part  of  the  day,  two 
:ssions  of  the  school  were  held  each  Sunday :  one  before  the 
[morning  service,  from  eight  until  half-past  ten  o'clock,  and 
fethe  other  in  the  afternoon  for  an  hour  and  a  half  The  Bible 
Iwas  used  as  a  reader,  and  the  teaching  was  done  regularly  by 
fpaid  instrudors. 

The  first  Sunday-school  library  owed  its  origin  to  a  wish  to 
^further  the  instrudion  given  in  the  school,  and  hence  contained 
[books  thought  admirably  adapted  to  Sunday  reading.  Among 

c  151  3 


y  Forgotten  Books  of  the 

the  somewhat  meagre  stock  provided  for  this  purpose  were 
Doddridge's  "Power  of  ReHgion,"  Miss  More's  trads  and 
the  writings  of  her  imitators,  together  with  "  The  Fairchild 
Family,"  by  Mrs.  Sherwood,  "The  Two  Lambs,"  by  Mrs. 
I  Cameron,  "  The  Economy  of  Human  Life,"  and  a  little  volume 
\  made  up  of  seledions  from  Mrs.  Barbauld's  works  for  chil- 
I  dren.  "The  Economy  of  Human  Life,"  said  Miss  Sedgwick 
\  (who  herself  afterwards  wrote  several  good  books  for  girls), 
"was  quite  above  my  comprehension,  and  I  thought  it  un- 
meaning and  tedious."  Testimony  of  this  kind  about  a  book 
which  for  years  appeared  regularly  upon  booksellers'  lists 
enables  us  to  realize  that  the  average  intelligent  child  of  the 
year  eighteen  hundred  was  beginning  to  be  as  bored  by  some 
of  the  literature  placed  in  his  hands  as  a  child  would  be  one 
hundred  years  later. 

To  increase  this  special  class  of  books,  Hannah  More  de- 
voted her  attention.  Her  forty  trads  comprising  "The  Cheap 
Repository"  included  "The  Shepherd  of  SaHsbury  Plain" 
and  "The  Two  Shoemakers,"  which,  often  appearing  in 
j  American  booksellers'  advertisements,  were  for  many  years 
ia  staple  article  in  Sunday-school  libraries,  and  even  now,  al- 
though pushed  to  the  rear,  are  discoverable  in  some  such  col- 
ledions  of  books.  Their  objedive  point  is  best  given  by  their 
author's  own  words  in  the  preface  to  an  edition  of  "The  Search 
after  Happiness;  A  Pastoral  Drama,"  issued  by  Jacob  Johnson 
of  Philadelphia  in  eighteen  hundred  and  eleven. 

Miss  More  began  in  the  self-depreciatory  manner  then 
thought  modest  and  becoming  in  women  writers:  "The  au- 
thor is  sensible  it  may  have  many  imperfedions,  but  if  it  may 

[  152  ] 


American  Nursery 

be  happily  instrumental  in  producing  a  regard  to  Religion 
and  Virtue  in  the  minds  of  Young  Persons,  and  afford  them  an 
innocent,  and  perhaps  not  altogether  unuseful  amusement  in 
the  exercise  of  recitation,  the  end  for  which  it  was  originally- 
composed  .  .  .  will  be  fully  answered."  A  drama  may  seem  to 
us  above  the  comprehension  of  the  poor  and  illiterate  class  of 
people  whose  attention  Miss  More  wished  to  hold,  but  when 
we  feel  inclined  to  criticise,  let  us  not  forget  that  the  author  was 
one  who  had  written  little  eight-year-old  Thomas  Macaulay : 
"  I  think  we  have  nearly  exhausted  the  epics.  What  say  you  to 
a  little  good  prose  *?  Johnson's '  Hebrides,'  or  Walton's '  Lives,* 
unless  you  would  like  a  neat  edition  of  Cowper's  poems  or 
'Paradise  Lost.'" 

Miss  More's  influence  upon  the  charader  of  Sunday-school 
books  in  England  undoubtedly  did  much  to  incline  many 
unknown  American  women  of  the  nineteenth  century  to  take 
up  this  class  of  books  as  their  own  field  for  religious  effort 
and  pecuniary  profit. 

Contemporary  with  Hannah  More's  writings  in  the  interest  t 
of  religious  life  of  Sunday-school  scholars  were  some  of  the  f 
literary  produds  of  the  painstaking  pen  of  Maria  Edgeworth.  j 

Mention  of  Miss  Edgeworth  has  already  been  made.  About 
her  stories  for  children  criticism  has  played  seriously,  admir- 
ingly, and  contemptuously.  It  is  not  the  present  purpose,  how- 
ever, to  do  other  than  to  make  clear  her  own  aim,  and  to  try 
to  show  the  effed  of  her  extremely  moral  tales  upon  her  own  i 
generation  of  writers  for  American  children.  It  is  possible  that 
she  affeded  these  authors  more  than  the  child  audience  for 
whom  she  wrote.  Little  ones  have  a  wonderful  faculty  for  seiz- 

[  153] 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

ing  upon  what  suits  them  and  leaving  the  remainder  for  their 
elders  to  discuss. 

Maria  Edgeworth's  life  was  a  long  one.  Bom  in  seventeen 
hundred  and  sixty-seven,  when  John  Newbery's  books  were 
at  the  height  of  their  fame,  she  lived  until  eighteen  hundred 
and  forty-nine,  when  they  were  scarcely  remembered;  and 
now  her  own  once  popular  tales  have  met  a  similar  fate. 

She  was  educated  by  a  father  filled  with  enthusiasm  by 
the  teachings  of  Rousseau  and  with  advice  from  the  platitu- 
dinous family  friend,  Thomas  Day,  author  of  "  Sanford  and 
Merton."  Only  the  truly  genial  nature  and  strong  charader  of 
Miss  Edgeworth  prevented  her  genius  from  being  altogether 
swamped  by  this  incongruous  combination.  Fortunately,  also, 
her  busy  practical  home  life  allowed  her  sympathies  full 
sway  and  counteraded  many  of  the  theories  introduced  by 
Mr.  Edgeworth  into  his  family  circle.  Successive  stepmothers 
filled  the  Edgeworth  nursery  with  children,  for  whom  the 
devoted  older  sister  planned  and  wrote  the  stories  afterward 
published 

In  seventeen  hundred  and  ninety-one  Maria  Edgeworth, 
at  her  father's  suggestion,  began  to  note  down  anecdotes  of 
the  children  of  the  family,  and  later  these  were  often  used  as 
copy  to  be  criticised  by  the  little  ones  themselves  before  they 
were  turned  over  to  the  printer.  Her  father's  educational  con- 
versations with  his  family  were  often  committed  to  paper,  and 
these  also  furnished  material  from  which  Miss  Edgeworth 
made  it  her  objed  in  life  to  interweave  knowledge,  amuse- 
ment, and  ethics.  Indeed,  it  has  been  most  aptly  said  that 
between  the  narrow  banks  of  Richard  Edgeworth's  theories 

[  154] 


f^^l? 

Offi^OOKFT^T^ 

? 

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o-v^ 

Jacob  Jolinsoifs  Book-Store 


American  Nursery 

his  daughter's  genius  flowed  through  many  volumes  of 


si 


amusement." 


Her  first  colledion  of  tales  was  published  under  the  title 
of"  The  Parent's  Assistant,"  although  Miss  Edge  worth's  own 
choice  of  a  name  had  been  the  less  formidable  one  of  "The 
Parent's  Friend."  Based  upon  her  experience  as  eldest  sister 
in  a  large  and  constantly  increasing  family,  these  tales  neces- 
sarily struck  many  true  notes  and  gave  valuable  hints  to  per- 
plexed parents.  In  "The  Parent's  Assistant "  realities  stalked 
full  grown  into  the  nursery  as 

"Every  obje(5l  in  creation 
Furnished  hints  for  contemplation." 

The  charaders  were  invariably  true  to  their  creator's  original 
drawing.  A  good  girl  was  good  from  morning  to  night;  a 
naughty  child  began  and  ended  the  day  in  disobedience,  and 
by  it  bottles  were  smashed,  strawberries  spilled,  and  lessons 
disregarded  in  unbroken  sequence.  In  later  life  Miss  Edge- 
worth  confessed  to  having  occasionally  introduced  in  "  Harry 
and  Lucy  "  some  nonsense  as  an  "  alloy  to  make  the  sense 
work  well;"  but  as  all  her  earlier  children's  tales  were  sub- 
jeded  to  the  pruning  scissors  of  Mr.  Edgeworth,  this  amal- 
gam is  to-day  hardly  noticeable  in  "Popular  Tales,"  "Early 
Lessons,"  and  "Frank,"  which  preceded  the  six  volumes  of 
"Harry  and  Lucy." 

Although  a  contemporary  of  Mrs.  Barbauld,  who  had 
written  for  little  children  "  Easy  Lessons,"  Miss  Edgeworth 
does  not  seem  to  have  been  well  known  in  America  until 
about  eighteen  hundred  and  five.  Then  "  Harry  and  Lucy  " 
was  brought  out  by  Jacob  Johnson,  a  Philadelphia  book- 

[  155  ] 


Forgotten  Booh  of  the 

dealer.  This  was  issued  in  six  small  red  and  blue  marbled 
paper  volumes,  although  other  parts  were  not  completed 
until  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-three.  Between  the  first 
and  second  parts  of  volume  one  the  educational  hand  of 
Mr.  Edge  worth  is  visible  in  the  insertion  of  a  "  Glossary," 
"to  give  a  popular  meaning  of  the  words."  "This  Glossary," 
the  editor,  Mr.  Edge  worth,  thought,  "should  be  read  to  chil- 
dren a  litde  at  a  time,  and  should  be  made  the  subjed  of  con- 
versation. Afterwards  they  will  read  it  with  more  pleasure." 
The  popular  meaning  of  words  may  be  succindly  given  by 
one  definition :  "  Dry,  what  is  not  wet."  Could  anything  be 
more  lucid  ^ 

Among  the  stories  by  Miss  Edgeworth  are  three  rarely 
mentioned  by  critics,  and  yet  among  the  most  natural  and 
entertaining  of  her  short  tales.  They  were  also  printed  by 
Jacob  Johnson  in  Philadelphia,  in  eighteen  hundred  and  five, 
under  the  simple  title,  "  Three  Stories  for  Children."  "  Little 
Dog  Trusty  "  is  a  dog  any  small  child  would  like  to  read  about; 
"  The  Orangeman  "  was  a  charader  familiar  to  English  chil- 
dren; and  "The  Cherry  Orchard"  is  a  tale  of  a  day's  pleasure 
whose  spirit  American  children  could  readily  seize.  In  each 
Miss  Edgeworth  had  a  story  to  tell,  and  she  told  it  well,  even  \ 
though  "she  walked,"  as  has  been  often  said,  "as  mentor 
beside  her  charaders." 

Of  Miss  Edgeworth's  many  tales,  "Waste  Not,  Want 
Not"  was  long  considered  a  model.  In  it  what  Mr.  Edgeworth 
styled  the  "shafts  of  ridicule"  were  aimed  at  the  rich  nephew 
of  Mr.  Gresham.  Mr.  Gresham  (whose  prototype  we  strongly 
susped  was  Mr.  Edgeworth  himself)  "  lived  neither  in  idle- 

[  156] 


American  Nursery 

ness  nor  extravagance,"  and  was  desirous  of  adopting  an 
heir  to  his  considerable  property.  Therefore,  he  invited  two 
nephews  to  visit  him,  with  the  object  of  choosing  the  more 
suitable  for  his  purpose;  apparently  he  had  only  to  signify 
his  wish  and  no  parental  objedion  to  his  plan  would  be  inter- 
posed. The  boys  arrive:  Hal,  whose  mama  spends  her  days 
at  Bath  over  cards  with  Lady  Diana  Sweepstake,  is  an  ill- 
bred  child,  neither  deferential  to  his  uncle,  nor  with  appe- 
tite for  buns  when  queen-cakes  may  be  had.  His  cousin  Ben, 
on  the  contrary,  has  been  taught  those  virtuous  habits  that 
make  for  a  respedful  attitude  toward  rich  uncles  and  assure  a 
dissertation  upon  the  beneficial  effed  of  buns  versus  queen- 
cakes.  The  boys,  having  had  their  characters  thus  definitely 
shown,  proceed  to  live  up  to  them  in  every  particular.  From 
start  to  finish  it  is  the  virtuous  Ben — his  generosity,  thrift, 
and  foresight  are  never  allowed  to  lapse  for  an  instant — who 
triumphs  in  every  episode.  He  saves  his  string,  "good  whip- 
cord," when  requested  by  Mr.  Gresham  to  untie  a  parcel,  and 
it  thereafter  serves  to  spin  a  fine  new  top,  to  help  Hal  out  of 
a  difficulty  with  his  toy,  and  in  the  final  incident  of  the  story^ 
an  archery  contest,  our  provident  hero,  finding  his  bowstring 
"cracked,"  calmly  draws  from  his  pocket  the  still  excellent 
piece  of  cord,  and  affixing  it  to  his  bow,  wins  the  match. 
Hal  betrays  his  great  lack  of  self-control  by  exclaiming,  "  The 
everlasting  whipcord,  I  declare,"  and  thereupon  Patty,  Mr. 
Gresham's  only  child,  who  has  suffered  from  Hal's  defeds 
of  charader,  openly  rejoices  when  the  prize  is  given  to  Ben. 
As  is  usual  with  Miss  Edgeworth's  badly  behaved  children, 
the  reader  now  sees  the  error  of  Hal's  ways,  and  perceives 

[  157] 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

also  that  in  the  lad's  acknowledgment  of  the  truth  of  the 
formerly  scorned  motto,  "  Waste  not,  want  not,"  the  era  of 
his  reformation  has  begun. 

Perpetual  a6tion  was  the  key  to  the  success  of  Miss  Edge- 
worth's  writings.  If  to  us  her  fiditious  children  seem  like 
puppets  whose  strings  are  too  obviously  jerked,  the  monoto- 
nous moral  cloaked  in  the  variety  of  incident  was  liked  by 
her  own  generation, 

Miss  Edge  worth  not  only  pleased  the  children,  but  received 
!  the  applause  of  their  parents  and  friends.  Sir  Walter  Scott, 
the  prince  of  story-tellers,  found  much  to  admire  in  her  tales, 
and  wrote  of  "Simple  Susan:"  "When  the  boy  brings  back 
the  lamb  to  the  little  girl,  there  is  nothing  for  it  but  to  put 
down  the  book  and  cry."  Susan  was  the  pattern  child  in  the 
tale,  "clean  as  well  as  industrious,"  while  Barbara  —  a  violent 
contrast  —  was  conceited  and  lazy,  and  a  lady  who  "could 
descend  without  shame  from  the  height  of  insolent  pride  to 
the  lowest  measure  of  fawning  familiarity."  Therefore  it  is 
small  wonder  that  Sir  Walter  passed  her  by  without  mention. 
However  much  we  may  value  an  English  author's  admira- 
tion for  Miss  Edgeworth's  story-telling  gifts,  it  is  to  America 
that  we  naturally  turn  to  seek  contemporary  opinion.  In  edu- 
\  cational  circles  there  is  no  doubt  that  Miss  Edge  worth  won 
1  high  praise.  That  her  books  were  not  always  easy  to  procure, 
however,  we  know  from  a  letter  written  from  Washington  by 
Mrs.  Josiah  Quincy,  whose  life  as  a  child  during  the  Revolu- 
tion has  already  been  described.  When  Mrs.  Quincy  was  liv- 
ing in  the  capital  city  in  eighteen  hundred  and  ten,  during  her 
husband's  term  as  Congressman,  she  found  it  difficult  to  pro- 

[  158] 


American  Nursery 

vide  her  family  with  books.  She  therefore  wrote  to  Boston  to 
a  friend,  requesting  to  have  sent  her  Miss  Edgeworth's  "  Moral 
Tales,"  "if  the  work  can  be  obtained  in  one  of  the  bookstores. 
If  not,"  she  continued,  "borrow  one  .  .  .  and  I  will  replace  it 
with  a  new  copy.  Cut  the  book  out  of  its  binding  and  enclose 

tlie  pages  in  packets Be  careful  to  send  the  entire  text  and 

title  page."  The  scarcity  in  Washington  of  books  for  young 
people  Mrs.  Quincy  thought  justified  the  hope  that  reprinting 
these  tales  would  be  profitable  to  a  bookseller  in  whose  efforts 
to  introduce  a  better  taste  among  the  inhabitants  she  took 
a  keen  interest.  But  Mrs.  Quincy  need  not  have  sent  to  Boston 
for  them.  Jacob  Johnson  in  Philadelphia  had  issued  most  of 
the  English  author's  books  by  eighteen  hundred  and  five,  and 
New  York  publishers  probably  made  good  profit  by  printing 
them. 

Reading  aloud  was  both  a  pastime  and  an  education  to 
families  in  those  early  days  of  the  Republic.  Although  Mrs. 
Quincy  made  every  effort  to  procure  Miss  Edgeworth's  stories 
for  her  family  because,  in  her  opinion,  "they  obtained  a  de- 
cided preference  to  the  works  of  Hannah  More,  Mrs.  Trim- 
mer and  Mrs.  Chapone,"  for  reading  aloud  she  chose  extrads 
from  Shakespeare,  Milton,  Addison,  and  Goldsmith.  Indeed, 
if  it  were  possible  to  ask  our  great-grandparents  what  books 
they  remembered  reading  in  their  childhood,  I  think  we 
should  find  that  beyond  somewhat  hazy  recolledions  of  Miss 
Edgeworth's  books  and  Berquin's  "The  Looking  Glass  for 
the  Mind,"  they  would  either  mention  "Robinson  Crusoe," 
Newbery's  tales  of  "Giles  Gingerbread,"  "Little  King  Pip- 
pin," and  "Goody  Two -Shoes"  (written  fifty  years  before 

[  159] 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

their  own  childhood),  or  remember  only  the  classic  tales  and 
sketches  read  to  them  by  their  parents. 

Certainly  this  is  the  case  if  we  may  take  as  trustworthy  the 
recolledions  of  literary  people  whose  childhood  was  passed 
in  the  first  part  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Catharine  Sedg- 
wick, for  instance,  has  left  a  charming  pidure  of  Ameri- 
can family  life  in  a  country  town  in  eighteen  hundred — a 
life  doubtless  paralleled  by  many  households  in  comfortable 
circumstances.  Among  the  host  of  little  prigs  and  prudes 
in  story-books  of  the  day,  it  is  delightful  to  find  in  Catha- 
rine Sedgwick  herself  an  example  of  a  bookish  child  who 
was  natural.  Her  reminiscences  include  an  account  of  the 
way  the  task  of  sweeping  out  the  schoolhouse  after  hours  was 
made  bearable  by  feasts  of  Malaga  wine  and  raisins.  These 
she  procured  from  the  store  where  her  father  kept  an  open 
account,  until  the  bill  having  been  rendered  dotted  over  with 
such  charges  "per  daughter  Catharine,"  these  treats  to  favorite 
schoolmates  ceased.  Also  a  host  of  intimate  details  of  this  large 
family's  life  in  the  country  brings  us  in  touch  with  the  times : 
fifteen  pairs  of  calfskin  shoes  ordered  from  the  village  shoe- 
maker, because  town-bought  morocco  slippers  were  few  and 
far  between;  the  excitement  of  a  silk  gown;  the  distress  of 
a  brother,  whose  trousers  for  fete  occasions  were  remodelled 
from  an  older  brother's  "blue  broadcloth  worn  to  fragility — 
so  that  Robert  [the  younger  brother]  said  he  could  not  look 
at  them  without  making  a  rent;"  and  again  the  anticipation 
of  the  father's  return  from  Philadelphia  with  gifts  of  necessa- 
ries and  books. 

After  seventeen  hundred  and  ninety-five  Mr.  Sedgwick  was 

[   i6o] 


American  Nursery 

compelled  as  a  member  of  Congress  to  be  away  the  greater 
part  of  each  year,  leaving  household  and  farm  to  the  care 
of  an  invalid  wife.  Memories  of  Mr.  Sedgwick's  infrequent 
visits  home  were  mingled  in  his  daughter's  mind  with  the 
recolledions  of  being  kept  up  until  nine  o'clock  to  listen  to 
his  reading  from  Shakespeare,  Don  Quixote,  or  Hudibras. 
"Certainly,"  wrote  Miss  Sedgwick,  "I  did  not  understand 
them,  but  some  glances  of  celestial  light  reached  my  soul, 
and  I  caught  from  his  magnetic  sympathy  some  elevation 
of  feeling,  and  that  love  of  reading  which  has  been  to  me 
an  'education.'"  "I  was  not  more  than  twelve  years  old,"  she 
continues,  "I  think  but  ten — when  one  winter  I  read  Rollin's 
Ancient  History.  The  walking  to  our  schoolhouse  was  often 
bad,  and  I  took  my  lunch  (how  well  I  remember  the  bread 
and  butter,  and  'nut  cake'  and  cold  sausage,  and  nuts  and 
apples  that  made  the  miscellaneous  contents  of  that  enchant- 
ing lunch-basket!),  and  in  the  interim  between  morning  and 
afternoon  school  I  crept  under  my  desk  (the  desks  were  so 
made  as  to  afford  little  close  recesses  under  them)  and  read 
and  munched  and  forgot  myself  in  Cyrus'  greatness." 

It  is  beyond  question  that  the  keen  relish  induced  by  the 
scarcity  of  juvenile  reading,  together  with  the  sound  diges- 
tion it  promoted,  overbalanced  in  mental  gain  the  novelties 
of  a  later  day. 

The  Sedgwick  library  was  probably  typical  of  the  average 
choice  in  reading-matter  of  the  contemporary  American  child. 
Haifa  dozen  little  story-books,  Berquin's  "  Children's  Friend  " 
(the  very  form  and  shade  of  color  of  its  binding  with  its  green 
edges  were  never  forgotten  by  any  member  of  the  Sedgwick 

[i6i  ] 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

family),  and  the  "Looking  Glass  for  the  Mind"  were  shelved 
side  by  side  with  a  large  volume  entitled  "  Elegant  Extrads," 
full  of  ballads,  fables,  and  tales  delightful  to  children  whose 
imagination  was  already  excited  by  the  solemn  mystery  of 
Rowe's  "Letters  from  the  Dead  to  the  Living."  Since  none  of 
these  books  except  those  containing  an  infusion  of  religion 
were  allowed  to  be  read  on  Sunday,  the  Sedgwick  children 
extended  the  bounds  by  turning  over  the  pages  of  a  book, 
and  if  the  word  "God"  or  "Lord"  appeared,  it  was  pounced 
upon  as  sandified  and  therefore  permissible. 

Where  families  were  too  poor  to  buy  story-books,  the  chil- 
dren found  what  amusement  they  could  in  the  parents'  small 
library.  In  ministers'  families  sermons  were  more  plentiful 
than  books.  Mrs.  H.  B.  Stowe,  when  a  girl,  found  barrels  of 
sermons  in  the  garret  of  her  father,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Beecher,  in 
Litchfield,  Connecticut.  Through  these  sermons  his  daughter 
searched  hungrily  for  mental  food.  It  seemed  as  if  there  were 
thousands  of  the  most  unintelligible  things.  "An  appeal  on 
the  unlawfulness  of  a  man's  marrying  his  wife's  sister"  turned 
up  in  every  barrel  by  the  dozens,  until  she  despaired  of  finding 
an  end  of  it.  At  last  an  ancient  volume  of  "  Arabian  Nights  " 
was  unearthed.  Here  was  the  one  inexhaustible  source  of 
delight  to  a  child  so  eager  for  books  that  at  ten  years  of  age 
she  had  pored  over  the  two  volumes  of  the  "Magnalia." 

The  library  advantages  of  a  more  fortunately  placed  old- 
fashioned  child  we  know  from  Dr.  Holmes's  frequent  refer- 
ence to  incidents  of  his  boyhood.  He  frankly  confessed  that 
he  read  in  and  not  through  many  of  the  two  thousand  books  in 
his  father's  library;  but  he  found  much  to  interest  him  in  the 

[  162] 


American  Nursery 

volumes  of  periodicals,  especially  in  the  "Annual  Register" 
andRees's  "Encyclopedia."  Although  apparently  allowed  to 
choose  from  the  book-shelves,  there  were  frequent  evidences 
of  a  parent's  careful  supervision.  "  I  remember,"  he  once  wrote 
to  a  friend,  "many  leaves  were  torn  out  of  a  copy  of  Dryden's 
Poems,  with  the  comment '  Hiatus  haud  diflendus,'  but  I  had 
like  all  children  a  kind  of  Indian  sagacity  in  the  discovery  of 
contraband  reading,  such  as  a  boy  carries  to  a  corner  for  peru- 
sal. Sermons  I  had  enough  from  the  pulpit.  I  don't  know  that 
I  ever  read  one  sermon  of  my  own  accord  during  my  child- 
hood. The  'Life  of  David,'  by  Samuel  Chandler,  had  adven- 
tures enough,  to  say  nothing  of  gallantry,  in  it  to  stimulate 
and  gratify  curiosity."  "Biographies  of  Pious  Children,"  wrote 
Dr.  Holmes  at  another  time,  "were  not  to  my  taste.  Those 
young  persons  were  generally  sickly,  melancholy,  and  buzzed 
around  by  ghostly  comforters  or  discomforters  in  a  way  that 
made  me  sick  to  contemplate."  Again,  Dr.  Holmes,  writing 
of  the  revolt  from  the  commonly  accepted  religious  dodrines 
he  experienced  upon  reading  the  Rev.  Thomas  Scott's  Family 
Bible,  contrasted  the  gruesome  dodrines  it  set  forth  with  the 
story  of  Christian  told  in  "  Pilgrim's  Progress,"  a  book  which 
captivated  his  imagination. 

As  to  story-books.  Dr.  Holmes  once  referred  to  Mrs. 
Barbauld  and  Dr.  Aikin's  joint  produdion,  "Evenings  at 
Home,"  with  an  accuracy  bearing  testimony  to  his  early  love 
for  natural  science.  He  also  paid  a  graceful  tribute  to  Lady 
Bountiful  of  "Little  King  Pippin"  in  comparing  her  in  a 
conversation  "At  the  Breakfast  Table"  with  the  appearance 
of  three  maiden  ladies  "rustling  through  the  aisles  of  the 

[  163] 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

old  meeting-house,  in  silk  and  satin,  not  gay  but  more  than 
decent." 

Although  Dr.  Holmes  was  not  sufficiently  impressed  with 
the  contents  of  Miss  Edgeworth's  tales  to  mention  them,  at 
least  one  of  her  books  contained  much  of  the  sort  of  informa- 
tion he  found  attractive  in  "Evenings  at  Home."  "Harry  and 
Lucy,"  besides  pointing  a  moral  on  every  page,  foreshadowed 
that  taste  for  natural  science  which  turned  every  writer's 
thought  toward  printing  geographical  walks,  botanical  ob- 
servations, natural  history  conversations,  and  geological  dis- 
sertations in  the  guise  of  toy-books  of  amusement.  A  batch  of 
books  issued  in  America  during  the  first  two  decades  of  the 
nineteenth  century  is  illustrative  of  this  new  fashion.  These 
books,  belonging  to  the  Labor-in-Play  school,  may  best  be 
described  in  their  American  editions. 

One  hundred  years  ago  the  American  publishers  of  toy 
works  were  devoting  their  attention  to  the  make-up  rather 
than  to  the  contents  of  their  wares.  The  steady  progress  of  the 
industrial  arts  enabled  a  greater  number  of  printers  to  issue 
juvenile  books,  whose  attradiveness  was  increased  by  better 
illustrations;  and  also  with  the  improved  facilities  for  printing 
and  publishing,  the  issues  of  the  various  firms  became  more 
individual.  At  the  beginning  of  the  century  the  cheaper  books 
entirely  lost  their  charming  gilt,  flowery  Dutch,  and  silver 
wrappers,  as  home  produds  came  into  use.  Size  and  illustra- 
tions also  underwent  a  change. 

In  Philadelphia,  Benjamin  and  Jacob  Johnson,  and  later 
Johnson  and  Warner,  issued  both  tiny  books  two  inches 
square,  and  somewhat  larger  volumes  containing  illustrations 

[  164] 


J.  Wall'faper  Book-Cover 


'J 


American  Nursery 

as  well  as  text  These  firms  used  for  binding  gray  and  blue 
marbled  paper,  gold-powdered  yellow  cardboard,  or  salmon 
pink,  blue,  and  olive-green  papers,  usually  without  ornamen- 
tation. In  eighteen  hundred  J.  and  J.  Crukshank,  of  the  same 
town,  began  to  decorate  with  copper-plate  cuts  the  outside  of 
the  white  or  blue  paper  covers  of  their  imprints  for  children. 
Other  printers  followed  their  example,  especially  after  wood- 
engraving  became  more  generally  used. 

In  Wilmington,  Delaware,  John  Adams  printed  and  sold 
"The  New  History  of  Blue  Beard"  in  both  peacock-blue  and 
olive-green  paper  covers ;  but  Peter  Brynberg,  also  of  that  town, 
was  still  in  eighteen  hundred  and  four  using  quaint  wall-paper 
to  dress  his  toy  imprints.  Matthew  Carey,  the  well-known 
printer  of  school-books  for  the  children  of  Philadelphia,  made 
a  "  Child's  Guide  to  Spelling  and  Reading  "  more  acceptable 
by  a  charming  cover  of  yellow  and  red  striped  paper  dotted 
over  with  little  black  hearts  suggestive  of  the  old  Primer 
rhyme  for  the  letter  B: 

"  My  Book  and  Heart 
Shall  never  part." 

In  New  York  the  dealers  in  juvenile  books  seem  either  to 
have  bound  in  calf  such  classics  as  "The  Blossoms  of  Moral- 
ity," published  by  David  Longworth  at  the  Shakespeare  Gal- 
lery in  eighteen  hundred  and  two,  or  in  decorated  but  unat- 
tractive brown  paper.  This  was  the  cover  almost  invariably 
used  for  years  by  Samuel  Wood,  the  founder  of  the  present 
publishing-house  of  medical  works.  He  began  in  eighteen 
hundred  and  six  to  print  the  first  of  his  many  thousands  of 
children's  religious,  instructive,  and  nursery  books.  As  was  the 

[  i6S  ] 


V 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

custom  in  order  to  insure  a  good  sale,  Wood  first  brought 
out  a  primer,  "  The  Young  Child's  A  B  C."  He  decorated 
its  Quaker  gray  cover  with  a  woodcut  of  a  flock  of  birds, 
and  its  title-page  with  a  pidure,  presumably  by  Alexander 
Anderson,  of  a  girl  holding  up  a  dove  in  her  left  hand  and 
holding  down  a  lamb  with  her  right. 

In  New  England,  Nathaniel  Coverly  of  Salem  sometimes 
used  a  watered  pink  paper  to  cover  his  sixteen  page  toy- 
books,  and  in  Boston  his  son,  as  late  as  eighteen  hundred 
and  thirteen,  still  used  pieces  of  large  patterned  wall-paper 
for  six-penny  books,  such  as  "Tom  Thumb,"  "Old  Mother 
Hubbard,"  and  "Cock  Robin." 

The  change  in  the  appearance  of  most  toy-books,  how- 
ever, was  due  largely  to  the  increased  use  of  illustrations.  The 
work  of  the  famous  English  engraver,  Thomas  Bewick,  had 
at  last  been  successfully  copied  by  a  physician  of  New  York, 
Dr.  Alexander  Anderson. 

Dr.  Anderson  was  born  in  New  York  in  seventeen  hun- 
dred and  seventy-five,  and  by  seventeen  hundred  and  ninety- 
three  was  employed  by  printers  and  publishers  in  New  York, 
New  Jersey,  Philadelphia,  and  even  Charleston  to  illustrate 
their  books.  Like  other  engravers,  he  began  by  cutting  in 
type-metal,  or  engraving  upon  copper.  In  seventeen  hundred 
and  ninety-four,  for  Durell  of  New  York,  he  undertook  to 
make  illustrations,  probably  for  "  The  Looking  Glass  for  the 
Mind."  Beginning  by  copying  Bewick's  pi6tures  upon  type- 
metal,  when  "about  one-third  done.  Dr.  Anderson  felt  satis- 
fied he  could  do  better  on  wood."  *  In  his  diary  we  find  noted 

*  Linton,  Wood  Engraving  in  America.  Boston,  1882. 

[  166  ] 


American  Nursery/ 

an  instance  of  his  perseverance  in  the  midst  of  discourage- 
ment: "Sept.  24.  This  morning  I  was  quite  discouraged 
on  seeing  a  crack  in  the  wood.  Employed  as  usual  at  the 
Doctor's,  came  home  to  dinner,  glued  the  wood  and  began 
again  with  fresh  hopes  of  producing  a  good  wood  engrav- 
ing." September  26  found  him  "pretty  well  satisfied  with 
the  impression  and  so  was  Durell."  In  eighteen  hundred  he 
I  engraved  all  the  pidures  on  wood  for  a  new  edition  of  the 
same  book,  and  from  this  time  he  seems  to  have  discontin- 
ued the  use  of  type-metal,  which  he  had  employed  in  his 
earlier  work  as  illustrator  of  the  "  Pilgrim's  Progress "  issued 
by  Hugh  Gaine,  and  of  "Tom  Thumb's  Folio"  printed  by 
Brewer.  After  eighteen  hundred  and  twelve  Anderson  almost 
gave  up  engraving  on  copper  also,  and  devoted  himself  to 
satisfying  the  great  demand  for  his  work  on  wood.  For  Durell 
of  New  York,  an  extensive  reprinter  of  English  books,  from 
toy-books  to  a  folio  edition  of  Josephus,  he  reproduced  the 
English  engravings,  never  making,  according  to  Mr.  Lossing, 
more  than  a  frontispiece  for  the  larger  volumes. 

Although  Samuel  Wood  and  Sons  of  New  York  also 
gave  Dr.  Anderson  many  orders  for  cuts  for  their  various 
juvenile  publications,  he  still  found  time  to  engrave  for  pub- 
lishers of  other  cities.  We  find  his  illustrations  in  the  toy- 
books  printed  in  Boston  and  Philadelphia;  and  for  Sidney 
Babcock,  a  New  Haven  publisher  of  juvenile  literature,  he 
supplied  many  of  the  numerous  woodcuts  required.  The 
best  of  Anderson's  work  as  an  engraver  coincided  with  the 
years  of  Babcock's  very  extensive  business  of  issuing  chil- 
dren's books,  between  1805  and  1840.  His  cuts  adorned  the 

[  167  ] 


y 

Forgotten  Books  of  the 

juvenile  duodecimos  that  this  printer's  widely  extended  trade 
demanded;  and  even  as  far  south  as  Charleston,  South  Caro- 
lina, Babcock,  like  Isaiah  Thomas,  found  it  profitable  to 
open  a  branch  shop. 

Anderson's  illustrations  are  the  main  features  of  most  of 
Babcock's  little  blue,  pink,  and  yellow  paper-covered  books; 
especially  of  those  printed  in  the  early  years  of  the  nineteenth 
I  century.  We  notice  in  them  the  changes  in  the  dress  of  chil- 
dren, who  no  longer  were  clothed  exadly  in  the  semblance 
of  their  elders,  but  began  to  assume  garments  more  appro- 
priate to  their  ages,  sports,  and  occupations.  Anderson  also 
sometimes  introduced  into  his  pidures  a  negro  coachman 
or  nurse  in  the  place  of  the  footman  or  maid  of  the  English 
tale  he  illustrated. 

While  the  demand  for  the  engraver's  work  was  constant, 
his  remuneration  was  small,  if  we  are  to  judge  by  Babcock's 
payment  of  only  fifty  shillings  for  fifteen  cuts. 

For  these  toy-books  Anderson  made  many  reprodudions 
from  Bewick's  cuts,  and  although  he  did  not  equal  the  Eng- 
lishman's work,  he  so  far  surpassed  his  pupils  and  imitators 
of  the  early  part  of  the  century  that  his  engravings  are  gen- 
erally to  be  recognized  even  when  not  signed.  In  eighteen 
hundred  and  two  Dr.  Anderson  began  to  reproduce  for  David 
Longworth  Bewick's  "Quadrupeds,"  and  these  "cuts  were 
afterwards  made  use  of,  with  the  Bewick  letter-press  also,  for 
a  series  of  children's  books. "  * 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  twelve,  for  Munroe  &  Francis  of 
Boston,  Dr.  Anderson  made  after  J.  Thompson  a  set  of  cuts, 

*  Linton,  TVood  Engraving  in  America.  Boston,  1882. 

[  168] 


American  Nursery 

mainly  remarkable  "as  the  chief  of  his  few  departures  from 
the  style  of  his  favorite,  Bewick."* 

The  custom  of  not  signing  either  text  or  engravings  in 
the  children's  books  has  made  it  difficult  to  identify  writers 
and  illustrators  of  juvenile  literature.  But  some  of  the  best 
engravers  undoubtedly  practised  their  art  on  these  toy-books. 
Nathaniel  Dearborn,  who  was  a  stationer,  printer,  and  en- 
graver in  Boston  about  eighteen  hundred  and  eleven,  some- 
times signed  the  full-page  illustrations  on  both  wood  and 
copper,  and  Abel  Bo  wen,  a  copper-engraver,  and  possibly 
the  first  wood-engraver  in  Boston,  signed  a  very  curious  pub- 
lication entitled  "A  Metamorphosis" — a  manifold  paper 
which  in  its  various  possible  combinations  transformed  one 
figure  into  another  in  keeping  with  the  progress  of  the  story. 

C.  Gilbert,  a  pupil  of  Mason,  who  had  introduced  the  art 
of  wood-engraving  in  Philadelphia  from  Boston,  engraved  on 
wood  certainly  the  two  full-page  illustrations  for  "A  Present 
for  a  Little  Girl,"  printed  in  eighteen  hundred  and  sixteen  for 
a  Baltimore  firm,  Warner  &  Hanna. 

Adams  and  his  pupils,  Lansing  and  Morgan,  also  did  work 
on  children's  books.  Adams  seems  to  have  worked  under  An- 
derson's instrudion,  and  after  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  did  cuts  for  some  books  in  the  juvenile  libraries  of 
S.  Wood  and  Mahlon  Day  of  New  York. 

Of  the  engravers  on  copper,  many  tried  their  hands  on  these 
toy-books.  Among  them  may  be  mentioned  Amos  Doolittle 
of  New  Haven,  James  Poupard,  John  Neagle,  and  W.  Ralph 
of  Philadelphia,  and  Rollinson  of  New  York,  who  is  credited 

*  Linton,  Wood  Engraving  in  America.  Boston,  1882. 

[  169  ] 


^  Forgotten  Books  of  the 

with  having  engraved  the  silver  buttons  on  the  coat  worn  by- 
Washington  on  his  inauguration  as  President. 

But  of  the  copper-plate  engravers,  perhaps  none  did  more 
work  for  children's  books  than  William  Charles  of  Philadel- 
phia. Charles,  who  is  best  known  by  his  series  of  caricatures 
of  the  events  of  the  War  of  1812  and  of  local  politics,  worked 
upon  toy-books  as  early  as  eighteen  hundred  and  eight,  when 
in  Philadelphia  he  published  in  two  parts  "Tom  the  Piper's 
Son;  illustrated  with  whimsical  engravings."  In  these  books 
both  text  and  pidures  were  engraved,  as  will  be  seen  in  the 
illustration.  Charles's  plates  for  a  series  of  moral  tales  in  verse 
were  used  by  his  successors,  Mary  Charles,  Morgan  &  Yea- 
ger,  and  Morgan  &  Sons,  for  certainly  fifteen  years  after  the 
originals  were  made.  To  William  Charles  the  children  in  the 
vicinity  of  Philadelphia  were  also  probably  indebted  for 
the  introdudion  of  colored  pidures.  It  is  possible  that  the 
young  folks  of  Boston  had  the  novelty  of  colored  pidure- 
books  somewhat  before  Charles  introduced  them  in  Phila- 
delphia, as  we  find  that  "The  History  and  Adventures  of 
Little  Henry  exemplified  in  a  series  of  figures"  was  printed 
by  J.  Belcher  of  the  Massachusetts  town  in  1812.  These 
"  figures  "  exhibited  little  Henry  suitably  attired  for  the  various 
incidents  of  his  career,  with  a  movable  head  to  be  attached 
at  will  to  any  of  the  figures,  which  were  not  engraved  with 
the  text,  but  each  was  laid  in  loose  on  a  blank  page.  William 
Charles's  method  of  coloring  the  pidures  engraved  with  the 
text  was  a  slight  advance,  perhaps,  upon  the  illustrations  in- 
serted separately;  but  it  is  doubtful  whether  these  immovable 
plates  afforded  as  much  entertainment  to  little  readers  as  the 

[  170  ] 


Tlie  GOAT  was  agoing  to  ^liave 

ott  lus  iearcL, 
But  sooiihe  wa^done  wfieiiTOMS 

music  Jie  heapd, 
He  Trin  out  o£  doo¥;$  iti  akincL 

Ax\K  daitcecl  this  fitie  dance 
WhicTi  IS  now  aH  the fiisEdoiiL . 


^om  the  Piper's  Son 


American  Nursery 

separate  figures  similar  to  paper  dolls  which  Belcher,  and  some- 
what later  Charles  also,  used  in  a  few  of  their  publications. 

The  "Peacock  at  Home,"  engraved  by  Charles  and  then 
colored  in  aqua-tint,  is  one  of  the  rare  early  colored  pidure- 
books  still  extant,  having  be  en  first  issued  in  eighteen  hundred 
and  fourteen.  The  coloring  of  the  illustrations  at  first  doubled 
the  price,  and  seems  to  have  been  used  principally  for  a 
series  of  stories  belonging  to  what  may  be  styled  the  Ethics- 
in-Play  type  of  juvenile  literature,  and  entitled  the  "His- 
tory and  Adventures  of  Little  WiUiam,"  "Little  Nancy," 
etc.  These  tales,  written  after  the  objedive  manner  of  Miss 
Edgeworth,  glossed  over  by  rhyme,  contained  usually  eight 
colored  plates,  and  sold  for  twenty-five  cents  each  instead  of 
twelve  cents,  the  price  of  the  pidure-book  without  colored 
plates.  Sometimes,  as  in  the  case  of  "Cinderella,"  we  find  the 
text  illustrated  with  a  number  of  "  Elegant  Figures,  to  dress 
and  undress."  The  paper  doll  could  be  placed  behind  the 
costumes  appropriate  to  the  various  adventures,  and,  to  pre- 
vent the  loss  of  the  heroine,  the  book  was  tied  up  with  pink 
or  blue  ribbon  after  the  manner  of  a  portfolio. 

With  engravers  on  wood  and  copper  able  to  make  more 
attradive  the  passion  for  instrudion  which  marked  the  first 
quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century,  the  variety  of  toy-book 
literature  naturally  became  greater.  Indeed,  without  pidures 
to  render  somewhat  entertaining  the  Labor-in-Play  school,  it 
is  doubtful  whether  it  could  have  attained  its  widespread 
popularity. 

It  is,  of  course,  possible  to  name  but  a  few  titles  typical 
of  the  various  kinds  of  instrudion  offered  as  amusement.  "To 

[  '71  ] 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

present  to  the  young  Reader  a  Little  Miscellany  of  Natu- 
ral History,  Moral  Precept,  Sentiment,  and  Narrative,"  Dr. 
Kendall  wrote  "Keeper's  Travels  in  Search  of  his  Master," 
"The  Canary  Bird,"  and  "The  Sparrow."  "The  Prize  for 
Youthful  Obedience "  endeavored  to  instill  a  love  for  ani- 
mals, and  to  promote  obedient  habits.  Its  story  runs  in  this 
way: 

"A  kind  and  good  father  had  a  little  lively  son,  named 
Francis;  but,  although  that  little  boy  was  six  years  old,  he  had 
not  yet  learned  to  read. 

"His  mama  said  to  him,  one  day,  'if  Francis  will  learn  to 
read  well,  he  shall  have  a  pretty  little  chaise.' 

"The  little  boy  was  vastly  pleased  with  this;  he  presently 
spelt  five  or  six  words  and  then  kissed  his  mama. 

"'Mama,'  said  Francis,  'I  am  delighted  with  the  thoughts 
of  this  chaise,  but  I  should  like  to  have  a  horse  to  draw  it.' 

"'Francis  shall  have  a  little  dog,  which  will  do  instead 
of  a  horse,'  replied  his  mama,  'but  he  must  take  care  to  give 
him  some  viduals,  and  not  do  him  any  harm.'" 

The  dog  was  purchased,  and  named  Chloe.  "She  was  as 
brisk  as  a  bee,  prettily  spotted,  and  as  gentle  as  a  lamb." 
We  are  now  prepared  for  trouble,  for  the  lesson  of  the  story 
is  surely  not  hidden.  Chloe  was  fastened  to  the  chaise,  a  cat 
secured  to  serve  as  a  passenger,  and  "Francis  drove  his  little 
chaise  along  the  walk."  But  "when  he  had  been  long  enough 
among  the  gooseberry  trees,  his  mama  took  him  in  the  gar- 
den and  told  him  the  names  of  the  flowers."  We  are  thus  led 
to  suppose  that  Francis  had  never  been  in  the  garden  before ! 
The  mother  is  called  away.  We  feel  sure  that  the  trouble 

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American  Nursery 

anticipated  is  at  hand.  "As  soon  as  she  was  gone  Francis 
began  whipping  the  dog,"  and  of  course  when  the  dog  dashed 
forward  the  cat  tumbled  out,  and  "poor  Chloe  was  terrified 
by  the  chaise  which  banged  on  all  sides.  Francis  now  heartily 
repented  of  his  cruel  behaviour  and  went  into  the  house 
crying,  and  looking  like  a  very  simple  boy." 

"I  see  very  plainly  the  cause  of  this  misfortune,"  said  the 
father,  who,  however,  soon  forgave  his  repentant  son.  There- 
after every  day  Francis  learned  his  lesson,  and  was  rewarded 
by  fads  and  pidures  about  animals,  by  table-talks,  or  by  walks 
about  the  country. 

Knowledge  offered  within  small  compass  seems  to  have 
been  a  novelty  introduced  in  Philadelphia  by  Jacob  Johnson, 
who  had  a  juvenile  library  in  High  Street. 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  three  he  printed  two  tiny  volumes 
entitled  "A  Description  of  Various  Objeds."  Bound  in  green 
paper  covers,  the  two-inch  square  pages  were  printed  in  bold 
type.  The  first  volume  contained  the  illustrations  of  the  objeds 
described  in  the  other.  The  charaderizations  were  exceed- 
ingly short,  as,  for  example,  this  of  the  "Puppet  Show:" 
"Here  are  several  little  boys  and  girls  looking  at  a  puppet 
show,  I  suppose  you  would  like  to  make  one  of  them." 

Four  years  later  Johnson  improved  upon  this,  when  he 
printed  in  better  type  "People  of  all  Nations;  an  useful  toy 
for  Girl  or  Boy."  Of  approximately  the  same  size  as  the  other 
volumes,  it  was  bound  with  stiff  sides  and  calf  back.  The 
plates,  engraved  on  copper,  represent  men  of  various  nation- 
alities in  the  favorite  alphabetical  order.  A  is  an  American. 
V  is  a  Virginian, — an  Indian  in  scant  costume  of  feathers  with 

[  173  ] 


/ 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

a  long  pipe, — who,  the  printed  description  says,  "  is  generally 
dressed  after  the  manner  of  the  English;  but  this  is  a  poor 
African,  and  made  a  slave  of"  An  orang-outang  represents 
the  letter  O,  and  according  to  the  author,  is  "a  wild  man 
of  the  woods,  in  the  East  Indies.  He  sleeps  under  trees,  and 
builds  himself  a  hut.  He  cannot  speak,  but  when  the  natives 
make  a  fire  in  the  woods  he  will  come  and  warm  himself" 
Ten  years  later  there  was  still  some  difficulty  in  getting 
exad  descriptions  of  unfamiliar  animals.  Thus  in  "A  Familiar 
Description  of  Beasts  and  Birds"  the  baboon  is  drawn  with 
a  dog's  body  and  an  uncanny  head  with  a  snout.  The  reader 
is  informed  that  "the  baboon  has  a  long  face  resembling  a 
dog's;  his  eyes  are  red  and  very  bright,  his  teeth  are  large 
and  strong,  but  his  swiftness  renders  him  hard  to  be  taken. 
He  delights  in  fishing,  and  will  stay  for  a  considerable  time 
under  water.  He  imitates  several  of  our  adions,  and  will 
drink  wine,  and  eat  human  food." 

Another  series  of  three  books,  written  by  William  Darton, 
the  English  publisher  and  maker  of  toy-books,  was  called 
"Chapters  of  Accidents,  containing  Caution  and  Instrudion." 
Thrilling  accounts  of  "Escapes  from  Danger"  when  robbing 
birds'-nests  and  hunting  lions  and  tigers  were  intermingled 
with  wise  counsel  and  lessons  to  be  gained  from  an  "Upset 
Cart,"  or  a  "Balloon  Excursion."  With  one  incident  the 
Philadelphia  printer  took  the  liberty  of  changing  the  title  to 
"Cautions  to  Walkers  on  the  Streets  of  Philadelphia."  High 
Street,  now  Market  Street,  is  represented  in  a  pidure  of  the 
young  woman  who,  unmindful  of  the  warning,  "Never  to 
turn  hastily  around  the  corner  of  a  street,"  "ran  against  the 

[  174  ] 


^^m7an. 


A  Baboon 


L 


/; 


American  Nursery 

porter's  load  and  nearly  lost  one  of  her  eyes.*'  The  change,  of 
course,  is  worthy  of  notice  only  because  of  the  slight  effort 
to  locate  the  story  in  America. 

An  attempt  to  familiarize  children  with  flowers  resulted  in 
two  tales,  called  "The  Rose's  Breakfast"  and  "Flora's  Gala," 
in  which  flowers  were  personified  as  they  took  part  in  fetes. 
"Garden  Amusements,  for  Improving  the  Minds  of  Little 
Children,"  was  issued  by  Samuel  Wood  of  New  York  with 
this  advertisement:  "This  little  treatise,  (written  and  first 
published  in  the  great  emporium  of  the  British  nation)  con- 
taining so  many  pleasing  remarks  for  the  juvenile  mind,  was 
thought  worthy  of  an  American  edition.  .  . .  Being  so  very 
natural,  .  .  .  and  its  tendency  so  moral  and  amusing,  it  is  to 
be  hoped  an  advantage  will  be  obtained  from  its  re-publica- 
tion in  Freedonia." 

-i-'  Dialogue  was  the  usual  method  of  instru6tion  employed 
by  Miss  Edge  worth  and  her  followers.  In  "Garden  Amuse- 
ments "  the  conversation  was  interrupted  by  a  note  criticising 
a  quotation  from  Milton  as  savoring  too  much  of  poetic 
license.  Cowper  also  gained  the  anonymous  critic's  disappro- 
val, although  it  was  his  point  of  view  and  not  his  style  that 
came  under  censure. 

^-  In  still  another  series  of  stories  often  reprinted  from  London 
editions  were  those  moral  tales  with  the  sub-title  "Caution- 
ary Stories  in  Verse."  Mr.  William  James  used  these  "  Cau- 
tionary Verses  for  Children"  as  an  example  of  the  manner 
in  which  "the  muse  of  evangelical  protestantism  in  England, 
with  the  mind  fixed  on  the  ideas  of  danger,  had  at  last  drifted 
away  from  the  original  gospel  of  freedom."  "Chronic  anxiety," 

[  175  ] 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

Mr.  James  continued,  "  marked  the  earlier  part  of  this  [nine- 
teenth] century  in  evangehcal  circles."  A  little  salmon-col- 
ored volume,  "The  Daisy,"  is  a  good  example  of  this  series. 
Each  rhyme  is  a  warning  or  an  admonition;  a  chronic  fear 
that  a  child  might  be  naughty.  "Drest  or  Undrest"  is  typical 
of  the  sixteen  hints  for  the  proper  condud  of  every-day  life 
contained  in  the  innocent  "Daisy:" 

"When  children  are  naughty  and  will  not  be  drest, 
Pray  what  do  you  think  is  the  way? 
Why,  often  I  really  believe  it  is  best 
To  keep  them  in  night-clothes  all  day! 

"But  then  they  can  have  no  good  breakfast  to  eat, 
Nor  walk  with  their  mother  and  aunt; 
At  dinner  they'll  have  neither  pudding  nor  meat, 
Nor  anything  else  that  they  want. 

"Then  who  would  be  naughty  and  sit  all  the  day 
In  night-clothes  unfit  to  be  seen! 
And  pray  who  would  lose  all  their  pudding  and  play 
For  not  being  drest  neat  and  clean."  ^ 

Two  other  sets  of  books  with  a  like  purpose  were  brought 
out  by  Charles  about  eighteen  hundred  and  sixteen.  One  be- 
gan with  those  familiar  nursery  verses  entitled  "My Mother," 
by  Ann  Taylor,  which  were  soon  followed  by  "  My  Father,"  all 
the  family,  "My  Governess,"  and  even  "My  Pony."  The 
other  set  of  books  was  "calculated  to  promote  Benevolence 
and  Virtue  in  Children."  "Little  Fanny,"  "Little  Nancy," 
and  "Little  Sophie  "were  all  held  up  as  warnings  of  the  results 
of  pride,  greed,  and  disobedience. 

The  difference  between  these  heroines  of  fidion  and  the 
characters  drawn  by  Maria  Edgeworth  lies  mainly  in  the  fad 

[  176] 


Drest  or  Undrest 


^^ 


American  Nursery 

that  they  spoke  in  rhyme  instead  of  in  prose,  and  that  they  .       . 

were  almost  invariably  naughty;  or  else  the  parents  were  cruel       ,  i  J\  ^  j 

and  the  children  suffered.  Rarely  do  we  find  a  cheerful  tale    ^    ^y 

such  as  "The  Cherry  Orchard"  in  this  cautionary  style  of  / 

toy-book.  Still  more  rarely  do  we  find  any  suspicion  of  that 

alloy  of  nonsense  supposed  by  Miss  Edgeworth  to  make  the 

sense  work  well.  It  is  all  quite  serious.  "  Little  Nancy,  or,  the 

Punishment  of  Greediness,"  is  representative  of  this  sort  of 

moral  and  cautionary  tale.  The  frontispiece,  "embellishing" 

the  first  scene,  shows  Nancy  in  receipt  of  an  invitation  to  a 

garden  party: 

"Now  the  day  soon  appeared 
But  she  very  much  fear'd 
She  should  not  be  permitted  to  go. 
Her  best  frock  she  had  torn, 
The  last  time  it  was  worn; 
Which  was  very  vexatious,  you  know." 

However,  the  mother  consents  with  the  caution: 

"Not  to  greedily  eat 
The  nice  things  at  the  treat; 
As  she  much  wished  to  break  her  of  this." 

Arrived  at  the  party,  Nancy  shared  the  games,  and 

"At  length  was  seated, 
With  her  friends  to  be  treated; 
So  determined  on  having  her  share, 
That  she  drank  and  she  eat 
Ev'ry  thing  she  could  get, 
Yet  still  she  was  loth  to  forbear." 

The  disastrous  consequences  attending  Nancy's  disregard  of 
her  mother's  admonition  are  displayed  in  a  full-page  illus- 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

tration,  which  is  followed  by  another  depiding  the  sorrowful 
end  in  bed  of  the  day's  pleasure.  Then  the  moral: 

"My  young  readers  beware, 
And  avoid  with  great  care 
Such  excesses  as  these  you  've  just  read; 
For  be  sure  you  will  find 
It  your  interest  to  mind 
What  your  friends  and  relations  have  said."    ~ 

Perhaps  of  all  the  toy  imprints  of  the  early  century  none 
are  more  curious  in  modern  eyes  than  the  three  or  four  Ger- 
man translations  printed  by  Philadelphia  firms.  In  eighteen 
hundred  and  nine  Johnson  and  Warner  issued  "Kleine 
Erzahlungen  iiber  ein  Buch  mit  Kupfern."  This  seems  to 
be  a  translation  of  "A  Mother's  Remarks  over  a  Set  of  Cuts," 
and  contains  a  reference  to  another  book  entitled  "  Anecdo- 
ten  von  Hunden."  Still  another  book  is  extant,  printed  in 
eighteen  hundred  and  five  by  Zentler,  "Unterhaltungenfiir 
Deutsche  Kinder."  This,  according  to  its  preface,  was  one 
of  a  series  for  which  Jacob  and  Benjamin  Johnson  had  con- 
sented to  lend  the  plates  for  illustrations. 

Patriotism,  rather  than  diversion,  still  charaderized  the 
very  little  original  work  of  the  first  quarter  of  the  century 
for  American  children.  A  book  with  the  imposing  title  of 
"Geographical,  Statistical  and  Political  Amusement"  was 
published  in  Philadelphia  in  eighteen  hundred  and  six.  "This 
work,"  says  its  advertisement,  "is  designed  as  an  easy  means 
of  uniting  Instrudion  with  Pleasure  ...  to  entice  the  youth- 
ful mind  to  an  acquaintance  with  a  species  of  information 
[about  the  United  States]  highly  useful." 

[  ^78  ] 


American  Nursery 

"  The  Juvenile  Magazine,  or  Miscellaneous  Repository  of 
Useful  Information,"  issued  in  eighteen  hundred  and  three, 
contained  as  its  only  original  contribution  an  article  upon 
General  Washington's  will,  "an  affeding  and  most  original 
composition,"  wrote  the  editor.  This  was  followed  seven  years 
later  by  the  well-known  "Life  of  George  Washington,"  by 
M.  L.  Weems,  in  which  was  printed  the  now  famous  and  dis- 
puted cherry-tree  incident.  Its  abridged  form  known  to  pres- 
ent day  nursery  lore  differs  from  the  long  drawn  out  account 
by  Weems,  who,  like  Thomas  Day,  risked  being  diffuse  in  his 
desire  to  show  plainly  his  moral.  The  last  part  of  the  story 
sufficiently  gives  his  manner  of  writing : 

"Presently  George  and  his  hatchet  made  their  appear- 
ance. 'George,'  said  his  father,  'do  you  know  who  killed  that 
beautiful  little  cherry  tree  yonder  in  the  garden^'  That  was 
a  tough  question ;  and  George  staggered  under  it  for  a  mo- 
ment; but  quickly  recovered  himself,  and  looking  at  his 
father,  with  the  sweet  face  of  youth  brightened  with  the  in- 
expressible charm  of  all  conquering  truth,  he  bravely  cried 
out,  'I  can't  tell  a  lie.  Pa;  you  know  I  can't  tell  a  lie.  I  did 
cut  it  with  my  hatchet! '  'Run  to  my  arms,  you  dearest  boy,' 
cried  his  father  in  transports,  'run  to  my  arms;  glad  am  I, 
George,  that  you  killed  my  tree;  for  you  have  paid  me  for  it 
a  thousand  fold.  Such  an  a6t  of  heroism  is  worth  more  than  a 
thousand  trees,  though  blossomed  with  silver,  and  their  fruits 
of  purest  gold.' " 

Franklin's  "Way  to  Wealth"  was  considered  to  be  per-  {     / 
\  fe6tly  adapted  to  all  children's  comprehension,  and  was  is-  / 
\  sued  by  various  publishers  of  juvenile  books.  By  eighteen 

[  179  ] 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

hundred  and  eight  it  was  illustrated  and  sold  "with  fine  en- 
gravings for  twenty-five  cents." 

Of  patriotic  poetry  there  was  much  for  grown  folks,  but  the 
"Patriotic  and  Amatory  Songster,"  advertised  by  S.  Avery 
of  Boston  about  the  time  Weems's  biography  was  published, 
seems  a  title  ill-suited  to  the  juvenile  public  for  whom  Avery 
professed  to  issue  it. 

Among  the  books  which  may  be  cited  as  furnishing  in- 
strudive  amusement  with  less  of  the  admixture  of  moral 
purpose  was  the  "London  Cries  for  Children,"  with  pidures 
of  street  peddlers.  This  was  imitated  in  America  by  the  pub- 
lication of  the  "  Cries  of  New  York  "  and  "  Cries  of  Phila- 
delphia." 

In  the  Lenox  Colledion  there  is  now  one  of  the  various 
editions  of  the  "Cries  of  New  York"  (published  in  1808), 
which  is  valuable  both  as  a  record  of  the  street  life  of  the 
old-fashioned  town  of  ninety-six  thousand  inhabitants,  and 
as  perhaps  the  first  child's  book  of  purely  local  interest,  with 
original  woodcuts  very  possibly  designed  and  engraved  by 
Alexander  Anderson. 

The  "Cries  of  New  York"  is  of  course  modelled  after  the 
"London  Cries,"  but  the  account  it  gives  of  various  incidents 
in  the  daily  life  of  old  New  York  makes  us  grateful  for  the 
existence  of  this  child's  toy.  A  pidure  of  a  chimney-sweep, 
for  instance,  is  copied,  with  his  cry  of  "Sweep,  O,  O,  O,  O," 
from  the  London  book,  but  the  text  accompanying  it  is 
altered  to  accord  with  the  custom  in  New  York  of  firing 
a  gun  at  dawn: 

"About  break  of  day,  afi:er  the  morning  gun  is  heard  from 

[  180] 


American  Nursery 

Governor's  Island,  and  so  through  the  forenoon,  the  ears  of 
the  citizens  are  greeted  with  this  uncouth  sound  from  figures 
as  unpleasant  to  the  sight,  clothed  in  rags  and  covered  with 
soot — a  necessary  and  suffering  class  of  human  beings  indeed 
— spending  their  childhood  thus.  And  in  regard  to  the  un- 
necessary bawling  of  those  sooty  boys;  it  is  admirable  in  such 
a  noisy  place  as  this,  where  every  needless  sound  should  be 
hushed,  that  such  disagreeable  ones  should  be  allowed.  The 
prices  for  sweeping  chimneys  are — one  story  houses  twelve 
cents;  two  stories,  eighteen  cents;  three  stories,  twenty-five 
cents,  and  so  on." 

"Hot  Corn"  was  also  cried  by  children,  whose  business  it 
was  to  "gather  cents,  by  distributing  corn  to  those  who  are 
disposed  to  regale  themselves  with  an  ear."  Baked  pears  are 
pidured  as  sold  "by  a  little  black  girl,  with  the  pears  in  an 
earthen  dish  under  her  arm."  At  the  same  season  of  the  year, 
"Here's  your  fine  ripe  water-melons"  also  made  itself  heard 
above  the  street  noises  as  a  street  cry  of  entirely  American 
origin.  Again  there  were  pidured  "  Oyster  Stands,"  served  by 
negroes,  and  these  were  followed  by  cries  of 

"Fine  Clams:  choice  Clams, 
Here's  your  Rock-a-way  beach 
Clams:  here's  your  fine 
Young,  sand  Clams," 

fi-om  Flushing  Cove  Bay,  which  the  text  explains,  "turn  out 
as  good,  or  perhaps  better,"  than  oysters.  The  introdudion 
of  negroes  and  negro  children  into  the  illustrations  is  alto- 
gether a  novelty,  and  together  with  the  scenes  drawn  from 
the  street  life  of  the  town  gave  to  the  old-fashioned  child  its 

[  i8i  ] 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

first  distindtly  American  pidure-book.  Indeed,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  this  and  an  occasional  illustration  in  some  other- 
wise English  reprodudion,  all  the  American  publishers  at 
this  time  seem  to  have  modelled  their  wares  for  small  children 
after  those  of  two  large  London  firms,  J.  Harris,  successor  to 
Newbery,  and  William  Darton. 

To  Darton,  the  author  of  "Little  Truths,"  the  children 
were  indebted  for  a  serious  attempt  to  improve  the  charader 
of  toy-books.  A  copper-plate  engraver  by  profession,  Barton's 
attention  was  drawn  to  the  scarcity  of  books  for  children  by 
the  discovery  that  there  was  not  much  written  for  them  that 
was  worth  illustrating.  Like  Newbery,  he  set  about  to  make 
books  himself,  and  with  John  Harvey,  also  an  engraver,  he 
set  up  in  Grace  Church  Street  an  establishment  for  printing 
and  publishing,  from  which  he  supplied,  to  a  great  extent,  the 
juvenile  books  closely  imitated  by  American  printers.  Besides 
his  own  compositions,  he  was  very  alert  to  encourage  promis- 
ing authors,  and  through  him  the  famous  verses  of  Jane  and 
Ann  Taylor  were  brought  into  notice.  "Original  Poems,"  and 
"Rhymes  for  the  Nursery,"  by  these  sisters,  were  to  the  old- 
time  child  what  Stevenson's  "Child's  Garden  of  Verses"  is 
to  the  modern  nursery.  Darton  and  Harvey  paid  ten  pounds 
for  the  first  series  of  "Original  Poems,"  and  fifteen  pounds  for 
the  second;  while  "Rhymes  for  the  Nursery"  brought  to  its 
authors  the  unusual  sum  of  twenty  pounds.  The  Taylors  were 
the  originators  of  that  long  series  of  verses  for  infants  which 
"My  Sister"  and  "My  Governess"  strove  to  surpass  but  never 
in  any  way  equalled,  although  they  apparently  met  with  a  fair 
sale  in  America. 

^  [  182  ] 


Little  Nancy 


American  Nursery 

Enterprising  American  booksellers  also  copied  the  new 
ways  of  advertising  juvenile  books.  An  instance  of  this  is 
afforded  by  Johnson  and  Warner  of  Philadelphia,  who  ap- 
parently succeeded  Jacob  and  Benjamin  Johnson,  and  had, 
by  eighteen  hundred  and  ten,  branch  shops  in  Richmond, 
Virginia,  and  Lexington,  Kentucky.  They  advertised  their 
"neatly  executed  books  of  amusement"  in  book  notes  in  the 
"Young  Gentlemen  and  Ladies'  Magazine,"  by  means  of 
digressions  from  the  thread  of  their  stories,  and  sometimes 
by  inserting  as  frontispiece  a  rhyme  taken  from  one  used  by 
John  Harris  of  St.  Paul's  Churchyard  : 

"At  JO — store  in  Market  Street 
A  sure  reward  good  children  meet. 
In  coming  home  the  other  day 
I  heard  a  little  master  say 
For  ev'ry  three-pence  there  he  took 
He  had  received  a  little  book. 
With  covers  neat  and  cuts  so  pretty 
There's  not  its  like  in  all  the  city; 
And  that  for  three-pence  he  could  buy 
A  story  book  w^ould  make  one  cry; 
For  little  more  a  book  of  Riddles : 
Then  let  us  not  buy  drums  and  fiddles 
Nor  yet  be  stopped  at  pastry  cooks', 
But  spend  our  money  all  in  books; 
For  when  we've  learnt  each  bit  by  heart 
Mamma  will  treat  us  with  a  tart." 

Later,  when  engraving  had  become  more  general  in  use, 
William  Charles  cut  for  an  advertisement,  as  frontispiece  to 
some  of  his  imprints,  an  interior  scene  containing  a  shelf  of 
books  labelled  "  W.  Charles'  Library  for  Little  Folks."  About 

[  183] 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

the  same  time  another  form  of  advertisement  came  into  use. 
This  was  the  publisher's  Recommendation^  which  frequently  ac- 
companied the  narrative  in  place  of  a  preface.  The  "Story  of 
Little  Henry  and  his  Bearer,"  by  Mrs.  Sherwood,  a  writer  of 
.  many  English  Sunday-school  tales,  contained  the  announce- 
ment that  it  was  "  fraught  with  much  useful  instrudion.  It  is 
recommended  as  an  excellent  thing  to  be  put  in  the  hands 
of  children;  and  grown  persons  will  find  themselves  well  paid 
for  the  trouble  of  reading  it." 
,  Little  Henry  belonged  to  the  Sunday-school  type  of  hero, 
one  whose  biography  Dr.  Holmes  doubtless  avoided  when 
possible.  Yet  no  history  of  toy-books  printed  presumably 
for  children's  amusement  as  well  as  instrudion  should  omit 
'  this  favorite  story,  which  represents  all  others  of  its  class  of 
Religion-in-Play  books.  The  following  incidents  are  taken 
from  an  edition  printed  by  Lincoln  and  Edmunds  of  Boston. 
This  firm  made  a  special  feature  of  "Books  suitable  for  Pres- 
ents in  Sunday-School."  They  sold  wholesale  for  eight  dollars 
a  hundred,  such  tales  as  Taylor's  "  Hymns  for  Infant  Minds," 
"Friendly  Instrudion," Fenelon's  " Refledions," Doddridge's 
"  Principles  of  the  Christian  Religion,"  "  Pleasures  of  Piety 
in  Youth,"  "Walks  of  Usefulness,"  "Pradical  Piety,"  etc. 

The  objedive  point  of  little  Henry's  melancholy  history 
was  to  prove  the  "  Usefulness  of  Female  Missionaries,"  said 
its  editor,  Mrs.  Cameron,  a  sister  of  the  author,  who  at  the 
time  was  herself  living  in  India.  Mrs.  Sherwood  based  the 
thread  of  her  story  upon  the  life  of  a  household  in  India, 
but  it  winds  itself  mainly  around  the  conversion  of  the 
faithful  Indian  bearer  who  served  five-year-old  Henry.  This 

[  184] 


^J 


H  American  Nursery 

Hkmall  orphan  was  one  of  those  morbidly  religious  children 
^Hrho  "never  said  a  bad  word  and  was  vexed  when  he  heard 
any  other  person  do  it."  He  also,  although  himself  "saved 
by  grace,"  as  the  phrase  then  ran  in  evangelical  circles,  was 
chronically  anxious  lest  he  should  offend  the  Lord.  To  quote 
verbatim  from  this  relic  of  the  former  religious  life  would 
savor  too  much  of  ridiculing  those  things  that  were  sacred 
and  serious  to  the  people  of  that  day.  Yet  the  main  inci- 
dents of  the  story  were  these:  Henry's  conversion  took  place 
after  a  year  and  a  half  of  hard  work  on  the  part  of  a  mission- 
ary, who  finally  had  the  satisfaction  of  bringing  little  Henry 
"from  the  state  of  grossest  heathen  darkness  and  ignorance 
to  a  competent  knowledge  of  those  dodrines  necessary  to 
salvation."  This  was  followed  immediately  by  the  offer  of 
Henry  to  give  all  his  toys  for  a  Bible  with  a  purple  morocco 
cover.  Then  came  the  preparations  for  the  teacher's  departure, 
when  she  called  him  to  her  room  and  catechized  him  in  a 
manner  worthy  of  Cotton  Mather  a  century  before.  After  his 
teacher's  departure  the  boy,  mindful  of  the  lady's  final  ad- 
monition, sought  to  make  a  Christian  of  his  bearer,  Boosy. 
Like  so  many  story-book  parents,  Henry's  mother  was  alto- 
gether negledful  of  her  child;  and  consequently  he  was  left 
much  to  the  care  of  Boosy — time  which  he  improved  with 
"arguments  with  Boosy  concerning  the  great  Creator  of 
things."  But  it  is  not  necessary  to  follow  Henry  through  his 
ardent  missionary  efforts  to  the  admission  of  the  black  boy  of 
his  sinful  state,  nor  to  the  time  when  the  hero  was  delivered 
from  this  evil  world.  Enough  has  been  said  to  show  that  the 
religious  child  of  fidion  was  not  very  different  from  little 

[  185  ] 


^  Forgotten  Books  of  the 


Elizabeth  Butcher  or  Hannah  Hill  of  colonial  days,  whose 
pious  sayings  were  still  read  when  "Little  Henry"  was  in- 
troduced to  the  American  child. 

Indeed,  when  Mrs.  Sherwood's  fiditious  children  were  not 
sufficiently  religious  to  come  up  to  the  standard  of  five-year- 
old  Henry,  their  parents  were  invariably  as  pious  as  the  father 
of  the  "Fairchild  Family."  This  was  imported  and  reprinted 
for  more  than  one  generation  as  a  "best  seller."  It  was  almost 
a  modernized  version  of  Jane  way's  "Token  for  Children," 
with  Mather's  supplement  of  "A  Token  for  the  Children  of 
New  England,"  in  its  frequent  produdion  of  death-bed  scenes, 
together  with  painful  obje6t  lessons  upon  the  sinfulness  of 
every  heart.  To  impress  such  lessons  Mr.  Fairchild  spared 
his  family  no  sight  of  horror  or  distress.  He  even  took 
them  to  see  a  man  on  the  gallows,  "that,"  said  the  ingenuous 
gentleman,  "they  may  love  each  other  with  a  perfed  and  \ 
heavenly  love."  As  the  children  gazed  upon  the  dreadful 
objed  the  tender  father  described  in  detail  its  every  phase,  i 
and  ended  by  kneeling  in  prayer.  The  story  of  Evelyn  in  the  \ 
third  chapter  was  written  as  the  result  of  a  present  of  books 
from  an  American  Universalist^  whose  dodrines  Mrs.  Sher- 
wood thought  likely  to  be  pernicious  to  children  and  should 
be  controverted  as  soon  as  possible.  Later,  other  things  ema- 
nating from  America  were  considered  injurious  to  children, 
but  this  seems  to  be  the  first  indication  that  American  ideas 
were  noticed  in  English  juvenile  literature. 

But  all  this  lady's  tales  were  not  so  lugubrious,  and  many 
were  immense  favorites.  Children  were  even  named  for  the 
hero  of  the  "Little  Millenium  Boy."  Publishers  frequently 

[  i86] 


American  Nursery 

sent  her  orders  for  books  to  be  "written  to  cuts,"  and  the 
"Busy  Bee,"  the  "Errand  Boy,"  and  the  "Rose  "  were  some  of 
the  results  of  this  method  of  supplying  the  demand  for  her 
work.  Naturally,  Mrs.  Sherwood,  like  Miss  Edgeworth,  had 
many  imitators,  but  if  we  could  believe  the  incidents  related 
as  true  to  life,  parents  would  seem  to  have  been  either  very 
indifferent  to  their  children  or  forever  suspicious  of  them. 
In  Newbery's  time  it  had  been  thought  no  sin  to  wear  fine 
buckled  shoes,  to  be  genteelly  dressed  with  a  wide  "  ribband ; " 
but  now  the  vain  child  was  one  who  wore  a  white  frock  with 
pink  sash,  towards  whom  the  finger  of  scorn  was  pointed,  and 
from  whom  the  moral  was  unfailingly  drawn.  Vanity  was, 
apparently,  an  unpardonable  sin,  as  when  in  a  "Moral  Tale," 

"  Mamma  observed  the  rising  lass 
By  stealth  retiring  to  the  glass 
To  pra6tise  little  arts  unseen 
In  the  true  genius  of  thirteen." 

The  constant  eflfort  to  draw  a  lesson  from  every  a6tion  some- 
times led  to  overstepping  the  bounds  of  truth  by  the  par- 
ents themselves,  as  for  example  in  a  similar  instance  of  love 
for  a  mirror.  "What  is  this  I  see,  Harriet?"  asked  a  mother  in 
"  Emulation."  "  Is  that  the  way  you  employ  your  precious 
time?  I  am  no  longer  surprised  at  the  alteration  in  your  looks 
of  late,  that  you  have  appeared  so  sickly,  have  lost  your  com- 
plexion; in  short  I  have  twenty  times  been  on  the  point  of 
asking  you  if  you  are  ill.  You  look  shockingly,  child." 

"I  am  very  well.  Mamma,  indeed,"  cried  Harriet,  quite 
alarmed. 

"  Impossible,  my  dear,  you  can  never  look  well,  while  you 

[  187] 


y 


Forgotten  Books 

follow  such  an  unwholesome  pradice.  Looking-glasses  were 
never  intended  for  little  girls,  and  very  few  sensible  people 
use  them  as  there  is  something  really  poisonous  in  their  com- 
position. To  use  them  is  not  only  prejudicial  to  the  health 
but  to  the  disposition." 

Although  this  conception  of  the  use  of  looking-glasses  as 
prejudicial  to  right  living  seems  to  hark  back  to  the  views 
expressed  in  the  old  story  of  the  "  Prodigal  Daughter,"  who  sat 
before  a  mirror  when  the  Devil  made  his  second  appear- 
ance, yet  the  world  of  story-book  literature,  even  though  its 
creators  were  sometimes  either  careless  or  ignorant  of  fads, 
now  also  emphasized  the  value  of  general  knowledge,  which 
it  endeavored  to  pour  in  increasing  quantity  into  the  nursery. 
;  Miss  More  had  started  the  stream  of  goody-goody  books, 
^  while  Miss  Edge  worth,  Mrs.  Barbauld,  and  Thomas  Day  were 
I  the  originators  of  the  deluge  of  conversational  bores,  babies, 
j  boys,  and  teachers  that  threatened  to  flood  the  family  book-  \ 
I  shelves  of  America  when  the  American  writers  for  children  ' 
(  came  upon  the  scene. 


[  i88] 


CHAPTER  VII 

1825-1840 


Old  story-books!  old  story-books!  we  owe  you  much,  old  friends, 
Bright-coloured  threads  in  Memory's  warp,  of  which  Death  holds 

the  ends. 
Who  can  forget?  Who  can  spurn  the  ministers  of  joy 
That  waited  on  the  lisping  girl  and  petticoated  boy? 
Talk  of  your  vellum,  gold  embossed,  morocco,  roan,  and  calf; 
The  blue  and  yellow  wraps  of  old  were  prettier  by  half. 

Eliza  Cooke 

Their  works  of  amusement,  when  not  laden  with  more  religion  than 
the  tale  can  hold  in  solution,  are  often  admirable. 

Sluarterly  RenjienjUy  1843 


i 


CHAPTER  VII 

1825-1840 

American  TVriters  and  English  Critics 

IT  is  customary  to  refer  to  the  early  writings  of  Wash- 
ington Irving  as  works  that  marked  the  time  when  Htera- 
ture  pure  and  simple  developed  in  America.  Such  writing 
as  had  hitherto  attraded  attention  concerned  itself,  not  with 
matters  of  the  imagination,  but  with  fads  and  theories  of 
current  and  momentous  interest.  Religion  and  the  affairs 
of  the  separate  commonwealths  were  uppermost  in  people's 
minds  in  colonial  days;  political  warfare  and  the  defence  of 
the  policy  of  Congress  absorbed  attention  in  Revolutionary 
times;  and  later  the  necessity  of  expounding  principles  of 
government  and  of  fostering  a  national  feeling  produced  a 
literature  of  fad  rather  than  of  fancy. 

Gradually  all  this  had  changed.  A  new  generation  had 
grown  up  with  more  leisure  for  writing  and  more  time  to  de- 
vote to  the  general  culture  of  the  public.  The  English  periodi- 
cal with  its  purpose  of  "improving  the  taste,  awakening  the 
attention,  and  amending  the  heart,"  had  once  met  these  re- 
quirements. Later  on  these  periodicals  had  been  keenly  en- 
joyed, but  at  the  same  time  there  appeared  American  maga- 
zines, modelled  after  them,  but  largely  filled  by  contributions 
from  literary  Americans.  Early  in  the  nineteenth  century  such 
publications  were  current  in  most  large  towns.  From  the 
short  essays  and  papers  in  these  periodicals  to  the  tales  of 
Cooper  and  Irving  the  step,  after  all,  was  not  a  long  one. 

The  children's  literature  of  amusement  developed,  after  the 

[  191] 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

end  of  the  eighteenth  century,  in  a  somewhat  similar  way, 
although  as  usual  tagging  along  after  that  of  their  parents. 

With  the  constantly  increasing  population  the  produdion 
of  children's  books  grew  more  profitable,  and  in  eighteen  hun- 
dred and  two  Benjamin  Johnson  made  an  attempt  to  pub- 
lish a  "Juvenile  Magazine"  in  Philadelphia.  Its  purpose  was 
to  be  a  "Miscellaneous  Repository  of  Useful  Information;" 
but  the  contents  were  so  largely  drawn  from  English  sources 
that  it  was  probably,  like  the  toy-books,  pirated  from  an 
English  publisher.  Indeed,  one  of  the  few  extant  volumes 
contains  only  one  article  of  distindly  American  composition 
among  essays  on  Education^  the  Choice  of  a  Wife^  Love,  papers 
on  natural  history,  seledions  from  poems  by  Coleridge  and 
Cowper;  and  by  anonymous  makers  of  verse  about  Consump- 
tion and  Friendship.  The  American  contribution,  a  discussion 
of  President  Washington's  will,  has  already  been  mentioned. 

In  the  same  year,  1802,  the  "Juvenile  Olio"  was  started,- 
edited  by  "Amyntor,"  but  like  Johnson's  "Juvenile  Maga- 
zine," was  only  issued  at  irregular  intervals  and  was  short-lived. 

Other  ventures  in  children's  periodicals  continued  to  be 
made,  however.  The  "Juvenile  Magazine,"  with  "Religious, 
Moral,  and  Entertaining  Pieces  in  Prose  and  Verse,"  was  com- 
piled by  Arthur  Donaldson,  and  sold  in  eighteen  hundred 
and  eleven  as  a  monthly  in  Philadelphia — then  the  literary 
centre — for  twelve  and  a  half  cents  a  number.  In  eighteen 
hundred  and  thirteen,  in  the  same  city,  the  "Juvenile  Port- 
folio" made  its  appearance,  possibly  in  imitation  of  Joseph 
Dennie's  "Port  Folio;"  but  it  too  failed  from  lack  of  sup- 
port and  interest. 

[  192  ] 


/ 


American  Nursery 

Boston  proved  more  successful  in  arousing  attention  to 
the  possibilities  in  a  well-conduded  children's  periodical,  al- 
though it  was  not  until  thirteen  years  later  that  Lydia  Maria 
Child  established  the  "Juvenile  Miscellany  for  the  Instruc- 
tion and  Amusement  of  Youth."  Three  numbers  were  issued 
in  1826,  and  thereafter  it  appeared  every  other  month  until 
August,  1834,  when  it  was  succeeded  by  a  magazine  of  the 
same  name  conducted  by  Sarah  J.  Hale. 

This  periodical  is  a  landmark  in  the  history  of  story-writing 
for  the  American  child.  Here  at  last  was  an  opportunity  for 
the  editors  to  give  to  their  subscribers  descriptions  of  cities 
in  their  own  land  in  place  of  accounts  of  palaces  in  Persia; 
biographies  of  national  heroes  instead  of  incidents  in  the  life 
of  Mahomet;  and  tales  of  Indians  rather  than  histories  of 
Arabians  and  Turks.  For  its  pages  Mrs.  Sigourney,  Miss  Eliza  ■ 
Leslie,  Mrs.  Wells,  Miss  Sedgwick,  and  numerous  anonymous 
contributors  gladly  sent  stories  of  American  scenes  and  inci- 
dents which  were  welcomed  by  parents  as  well  as  by  children.  | 

In  the  year  following  the  first  appearance  of  Mrs.  Hale's 
"Juvenile  Miscellany,"  the  March  number  is  typical  of  the 
amusement  and  instrudion  the  editor  endeavored  to  provide. 
This  contained  a  life  of  Benjamin  Franklin  (perhaps  the 
earliest  child's  life  of  the  philosopher  and  statesman),  a  tale 
of  an  Indian  massacre  of  an  entire  settlement  in  Maine,  an 
essay  on  memory,  a  religious  episode,  and  extrads  from  a 
traveller's  journal.  The  traveller,  quite  evidently  a  Bostonian, 
criticised  New  York  in  a  way  not  unfamiliar  in  later  days, 
as  a  city  where  "the  love  of  literature  was  less  strong  than 
in  some  other  parts  of  the  United  States;"  and  then  in  trying 

[  193  ] 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

to  soften  the  statement,  she  fell  into  a  comparison  with  Phila- 
delphia, also  made  many  times  since  the  gentle  critic  observed 
the  difference.  "New  York,"  she  wrote,  "has  energy,  spirit, 
and  bold,  lofty  enterprise,  totally  wanting  in  Philadelphia, 
...  a  place  of  neat,  well  regulated  plans."  Also,  like  the  Eng- 
lish story-book  of  the  previous  century,  this  American  "Mis- 
cellany" introduced  Maxims  for  a  Student^  found,  it  cheerfully 
explained,  "  among  the  manuscripts  of  a  deceased  friend." 
Puzzles  and  conundrums  made  an  entertaining  feature,  and 
as  the  literary  chef  d'ceuvre  was  inserted  a  poem  supposed  to 
be  composed  by  a  babe  in  South  Carolina,  but  of  which  the 
author  was  undoubtedly  Mrs.  Oilman,  whose  ideas  of  a  baby's 
ability  were  certainly  not  drawn  from  her  own  nursery, 
j  A  rival  to  the  "Juvenile  Miscellany"  was  the  "Youth's 
I  Companion,"  established  at  this  time  in  Boston  by  Nathaniel 
P.  Willis  and  the  Reverend  Asa  Rand.  The  various  religious 
societies  also  began  to  issue  children's  magazines  for  Sunday 
perusal :  the  Massachusetts  Sunday  School  Union  beginning 
in  1828  the  "  Sabbath  School  Times,"  and  other  societies  soon 
following  its  example. 

"Parley's  Magazine,"  planned  by  Samuel G.  Goodrich  and 
published  by  Lilly,  Wait  and  Company  of  Boston,  ran  a  suc- 
I  cessful  course  of  nine  years  from  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty- 
three.  The  prospe6lus  declared  the  intention  of  its  condudors 
"to  give  descriptions  of  manners,  customs,  and  countries. 
Travels,  Voyages,  and  Adventures  in  Various  parts  of  the 
world,  interesting  historical  notes.  Biography,  particularly  of 
young  persons,  original  tales,  cheerful  and  pleasing  Rhymes, 
and  to  issue  the  magazine  every  fortnight."  The  popularity  of 

[  194  ] 


American  Nursery 

the  name  of  Peter  Parley  insured  a  goodly  number  of  sub- 
scriptions from  the  beginning,  and  the  life  of  "Parley's  Mag- 
azine "  was  somewhat  longer  than  any  of  its  predecessors. 

In  the  south  the  idea  of  issuing  a  juvenile  magazine  was 
taken  up  by  a  firm  in  Charleston,  and  the  "Rose  Bud"  was 
started  in  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty.  The  "Rose  Bud,"  a 
weekly,  was  largely  the  result  of  the  success  of  the  "Juvenile 
Miscellany,"  as  the  editor  of  the  southern  paper,  Mrs.  Gilman, 
was  a  valued  contributor  to  the  "  Miscellany,"  and  had  been 
encouraged  in  her  plan  of  a  paper  for  children  of  the  south 
by  the  Boston  condudors  of  the  northern  periodical. 

Mrs.  Gilman  was  born  in  Boston,  and  at  sixteen  years 
of  age  had  published  a  poem  most  favorably  criticised  at 
the  time.  Marrying  a  clergyman  who  settled  in  Charleston, 
she  continued  her  literary  work,  but  was  best  known  to  our 
grandmothers  as  the  author  of  "  Recolledions  of  a  New  Eng- 
land Housekeeper."  The  "Rose  Bud"  soon  blossomed  into 
the  "Southern  Rose,"  a  family  paper,  but  faded  away  in  1839. 

Among  other  juvenile  weeklies  of  the  time  may  be  men- 
tioned the  "Juvenile  Rambler"  and  the  "Hive,"  which  are 
chiefly  interesting  by  reason  of  the  opportunity  their  columns 
offered  to  youthful  contributors. 

Another  series  of  "  miscellaneous  repositories"  for  the  in- 
strudive  enjoyment  of  little  people  was  furnished  by  the 
Annuals  of  the  period.  These,  of  course,  were  modelled  after 
the  adult  Annuals  revolving  in  social  circles  and  adorning  the 
marble-topped  tables  of  drawing-rooms  in  both  England  and 
America. 

Issued  at  the  Christmas  and  New  Year  seasons,  these  chil- 

[  195  ] 


J 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

dren's  Annuals  formed  the  conventional  gift-book  for  many 
years,  and  publishers  spared  no  effort  to  make  them  attrac- 
tive. Indeed,  their  red  morocco,  silk,  or  embossed  scarlet 
cloth  bindings  form  a  cheerful  contrast  to  the  dreary  array 
of  black  and  drab  cloth  covering  the  fidion  of  both  old  and 
young.  Better  illustrations  were  also  introduced  than  the  ugly 
cuts  "adorning"  the  other  books  for  juvenile  readers.  Oliver 
Pelton,  Joseph  Andrews  (who  ranked  well  as  an  engraver), 
Elisha  Gallaudet,  Joseph  G.  Kellogg,  Joseph  I.  Pease,  and 
Thomas  Illman  were  among  the  workers  in  line-engraving 
whose  early  work  served  to  illustrate,  often  delightfully, 
these  popular  colle6tions  of  children's  stories. 

Among  the  "Annualettes,"  "Keepsakes,"  "Evening  Hours," 
and  "Infant's  Hours"  published  at  intervals  after  eighteen  hun- 
dred and  twenty-five  the  "Token"  stands  preeminent.  Edited 
by  Samuel  G.  Goodrich  (Peter  Parley)  between  the  years 
eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-eight  and  eighteen  hundred  and 
forty-two,  its  contents  and  illustrations  were  almost  entirely 
American.  Edward  Everett,  Bishop  Doane,  A.  H.  Everett, 
John  Quincy  Adams,  Longfellow,  Hawthorne,  Miss  Sedg- 
wick, Eliza  Leslie,  Dr.  Holmes,  Horace  Greeley,  James  T. 
Fields,  and  Gulian  Verplanck — all  were  called  upon  to  make 
the  "Token"  an  annual  treat  to  children.  Of  the  many  stories 
written  for  it,  only  Hawthorne's  "Twice  Told  Tales"  sur- 
vive ;  but  the  long  list  of  contributors  of  mark  in  American 
literature  cannot  be  surpassed  to-day  by  any  child's  book  by 
contemporary  authors.  The  contents,  although  written  in  the 
style  of  eighty  years  ago,  are  undoubtedly  good  from  a  lit- 
erary standpoint,  however  out  of  date  their  story-telling  quali- 

[  196] 


Children  of  the  Cottage 


American  Nursery 

ties  maybe.  And,  moreover,  the  "Token"  assuredly  gave  plea- 
sure to  the  pubHc  for  which  its  yearly  publication  was  made. 

By  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-five  the  "Annual"  was  in 
fiill  swing  as  a  popular  publication.  Then  an  international 
book  was  issued,  "The  American  Juvenile  Keepsake,"  edited 
by  Mrs.  Hofland,  the  well-known  writer  of  English  stories 
for  children.  Mrs.  Hofland  cried  up  her  wares  in  a  manner 
quite  different  from  that  of  the  earlier  literary  ladies.  "My 
table  of  contents,"  she  wrote  in  her  introdudion,  "exhibits  a 
list  of  names  not  exceeded  in  reputation  by  any  preceding 
Juvenile  Annual;  for,  although  got  up  with  a  celerity  almost 
distressing  in  the  hurry  it  imposed,  such  has  been  the  kind- 
ness of  my  literary  friends,  that  they  have  left  me  little  more 
to  wish  for."  Among  the  English  contributors  were  Miss  Mit- 
ford,  Miss  Jean  Roberts,  Miss  Browne,  and  Mrs.  Hall,  the 
ablest  writers  for  English  children,  and  already  familiar  to 
American  households. 

Mrs.  Hofland,  herself,  wrote  one  of  its  stories,  noteworthy 
as  an  early  attempt  of  an  English  author  to  write  for  an  Ameri- 
can juvenile  public.  She  found  her  theme  in  the  movement 
of  emigration  strong  in  England  just  then  among  the  laboring 
people.  No  amount  of  discouragement  and  bitter  criticism 
of  the  United  States  by  the  British  press  was  sufficient  to 
stem  appreciably  the  tide  of  laborers  that  flowed  towards  the 
country  whence  came  information  of  better  wages  and  more 
work.  Mrs.  Hofland,  although  writing  for  little  Americans, 
could  not  wholly  resist  the  customary  fling  at  American  life 
and  society.  She  acknowledged,  however,  that  long  residence 
altered  first  impressions  and  brought  out  the  kernel  of  Ameri- 

[  ^97  ] 


Forgotten  Booh  of  the 

can  charader,  whose  husk  only  was  visible  to  sojourners.  She 
deplored  the  fad  that  "gay  English  girls  used  only  to  the 
polished  society  of  London  were  likely  to  return  with  the  im- 
pression that  the  men  were  rude  and  women  frivolous."  This 
impression  the  author  was  inclined  to  believe  unjust,  yet 
deemed  it  wise,  because  of  the  incredulous  (perhaps  even 
in  America!),  to  back  her  own  opinion  by  a  note  saying  that 
this  view  was  also  shared  by  a  valued  friend  who  had  lived 
fourteen  years  in  Raleigh,  South  Carolina. 

Having  thus  done  justice,  in  her  own  eyes,  to  conditions  in 
the  new  country,  Mrs.  Hofland,  launched  the  laborer's  family 
upon  the  sea,  and  followed  their  travels  from  New  York  to 
Lexington,  Kentucky,  at  that  time  a  land  unknown  to  the 
average  American  child  beyond  some  hazy  association  with 
the  name  of  Daniel  Boone.  It  was  thus  comparatively  safe 
ground  on  which  to  place  the  struggles  of  the  immigrants, 
who  prospered  because  of  their  English  thrift  and  were  an 
example  to  the  former  residents.  Of  course  the  son  grew  up  to 
prove  a  blessing  to  the  community,  and  eventually,  like  the 
heroes  in  old  Isaiah  Thomas's  adaptations  of  Newbery's  good 
boys,  was  chosen  Congressman. 

There  is  another  point  of  interest  in  connexion  with  this 
English  author's  tale.  Whether  consciously  or  not,  it  is  a  very 
good  imitation  of  Peter  Parley's  method  of  travelling  with 
his  charaders  in  various  lands  or  over  new  country.  It  is,  per- 
haps, the  first  instance  in  the  history  of  children's  literature 
of  an  American  story-writer  influencing  the  English  writer 
of  juvenile  fidion.  And  it  was  not  the  only  time.  So  popular 
and  profitable  did  Goodrich's  style  of  story  become  that  some- 

[  198] 


American  Nursery 

what  later  the  frequent  attempts  to  exploit  anonymously  and 
profitably  his  pseudonymn  in  England  as  well  as  in  America 
were  loudly  lamented  by  the  originator  of  the  "Tales  of  Peter 
Parley."  It  is,  moreover,  suggestive  of  the  gradual  change  in 
the  relations  between  the  two  countries  that  anything  written 
in  America  was  thought  worth  imitating.  America,  indeed, 
was  beginning  to  supply  incidents  around  which  to  weave 
stories  for  British  children  and  tales  altogether  made  at  home 
for  her  own  little  readers. 

In  the  same  volume  Mrs.  S.  C.  Hall  also  boldly  attempted 
to  place  her  heroine  in  American  surroundings.  Philadelphia 
was  the  scene  chosen  for  her  tale ;  but,  having  flattered  her 
readers  by  this  concession  to  their  sympathies  and  interest, 
the  author  was  still  sufficiently  insular  to  doubt  the  existence 
of  a  competent  local  physician  in  this  the  earliest  medical 
centre  in  the  United  States.  An  English  family  had  come  to 
make  their  home  in  the  city,  where  the  mother's  illness  ne- 
cessitated the  attendance  of  a  French  dodor  to  make  a  cor- 
red  diagnosis  of  her  case.  An  operation  was  advised,  which 
the  mother,  Mrs.  Allen,  hesitated  to  undergo  in  an  unknown 
land.  Emily,  the  fourteen-year-old  daughter,  urged  her  not 
to  delay,  as  she  felt  quite  competent  to  be  in  attendance, 
having  had  "five  teeth  drawn  without  screaming;  nursed  a 
brother  through  the  whooping-cough  and  a  sister  through  the 
measles." 

"Ma  foi,  Mademoiselle,"  said  the  French  dodor,  "you  are 
very  heroic;  why,  let  me  see,  you  talk  of  being  present  at  an 
operation,  which  I  would  not  hardly  suffer  my  junior  pupils  to 
attend." 

[  199  ] 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

"Put,"  said  the  heroic  damsel,  "my  resolution,  sir,  to  any 
test  you  please ;  draw  one,  two,  three  teeth,  I  will  not  flinch." 
And  this  courage  the  writer  thought  could  not  be  surpassed 
in  a  London  child.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  Emily's  fortitude 
was  sufficient  to  endure  the  sight  of  her  mother's  suffering, 
and  to  nurse  her  to  complete  recovery.  Evidently  residence 
in  America  had  not  yet  sapped  the  young  girl's  moral  strength, 
or  reduced  her  to  the  frivolous  creature  an  American  woman 
was  reputed  in  England  to  be. 

Among  the  home  contributors  to  "  The  American  Juvenile 
Keepsake  "  were  William  L.  Stone,  who  wrote  a  prosy  arti- 
cle about  animals;  and  Mrs. Embury,  called  the  Mitford  of 
America  (because  of  her  stories  of  village  life),  who  furnished 
a  religious  tale  to  controvert  the  infidel  dodrines  considered 
at  the  time  subtly  undermining  to  childish  faith,  with  prob- 
able reference  to  the  Unitarian  movement  then  gaining  many 
adherents.  Mrs.  Embury's  stories  were  so  generally  gloomy, 
being  strongly  tinged  with  the  melancholy  religious  views  of 
certain  church  denominations,  that  one  would  suppose  them 
to  have  been  eminently  successful  in  turning  children  away 
from  the  faith  she  sought  to  encourage.  For  this  "Keepsake  " 
the  same  lady  let  her  poetical  fancy  take  flight  in  "The  Re- 
membrance of  Youth  is  a  Sigh,"  a  somewhat  lugubrious  and 
pessimistic  subjed  for  a  child's  Christmas  Annual.  Occasion- 
ally a  more  cheerful  mood  possessed  "lanthe,"  as  she  chose 
to  call  herself,  and  then  we  have  some  of  the  earliest  descrip- 
tions of  country  life  in  literature  for  American  children.  There 
is  one  especially  charming  pidure  of  a  walk  in  New  England 
woods  upon  a  crisp  Odober  day,  when  the  children  merrily 

[    200    ] 


Henrietta 


'IJ 


American  Nursery 

hunt  for  chestnuts  among  the  dry  brown  leaves,  and  the  squir- 
rels play  above  their  heads  in  the  many  colored  boughs. 

Dr.  Holmes  has  somewhere  remarked  upon  the  total  lack  of 
American  nature  descriptions  in  the  literature  of  his  boyhood. 
No  birds  familiar  to  him  were  ever  mentioned;  nor  were 
the  flowers  such  as  a  New  England  child  could  ever  gather. 
Only  English  larks  and  linnets,  cowslips  and  hawthorn,  were 
to  be  found  in  the  toy-books  and  little  histories  read  to  him. 
"Everything  was  British:  even  the  robin,  a  domestic  bird," 
wrote  the  doctor,  "instead  of  a  great  fidgety,  jerky,  whooping 
thrush."  But  when  Peter  Parley,  Jacob  Abbott,  Lydia  Maria 
Child,  Mrs.  Embury,  and  Eliza  Leslie  began  to  write  short 
stories,  the  Annuals  and  periodicals  abounded  in  American 
scenes  and  local  color.  ' 

There  was  also  another  great  incentive  for  writers  to  work 
for  children.  This  was  the  demand  made  for  stories  from  the 
American  Sunday  School  Union,  whose  influence  upon  the 
charader  of  juvenile  literature  was  a  force  bearing  upon  / 
the  various  writers,  and  whose  growth  was  coincident  with 
the  development  of  the  children's  periodical  literature. 

The  American  Sunday  School  Union,  an  outgrowth  of  the 
several  religious  publication  societies,  in  eighteen  hundred 
and  twenty-four  began  to  do  more  extensive  work,  and  there- 
fore formed  a  committee  to  judge  and  pronounce  upon  all 
manuscripts,  which  American  writers  were  asked  to  submit. 

The  sessions  of  the  Sunday-schools  were  no  longer  held  for 
illiterate  children  only.  The  younger  members  of  each  parish 
or  church  were  found  upon  its  benches  each  Sunday  morning 
or  afternoon.  To  promote  and  to  impress  the  religious  teach- 

[  201  ] 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

ing  in  these  schools,  rewards  were  offered  for  well-prepared 
lessons  and  regular  attendance.  Also  the  scholars  were  en- 
couraged to  use  the  Sunday-school  library.  For  these  different 
purposes  many  books  were  needed,  but  naturally  only  those 
stamped  with  the  approval  of  the  clergyman  in  charge  were 
circulated. 

The  board  of  publication  appointed  by  the  American 
Sunday  School  Union — composed  chiefly  of  clergymen  of 
certain  denominations — passed  upon  the  merits  of  the  many 
manuscripts  sent  in  by  piously  inclined  persons,  and  edited 
such  of  them  as  proved  acceptable.  The  marginal  notes  on  the 
pages  of  the  first  edition  of  an  old  Sunday-school  favorite  bear 
witness  to  the  painstaking  care  of  the  editors  that  the  leaflets, 
trads,  and  stories  poured  in  from  all  parts  of  the  country 
should  "shine  by  reason  of  the  truth  contained,"  and  "avoid 
the  least  appearance,  the  most  indired  insinuations,  of  any- 
thing which  can  militate  against  the  stridest  ideas  of  pro- 
priety." The  tales  had  also  to  keep  absolutely  within  the 
bounds  of  religion.  Many  were  the  stories  found  lacking  in 
dired  religious  teaching,  or  returned  because  religion  was 
not  vitally  conneded  with  the  plot,  to  be  rewritten  or  sent 
elsewhere  for  publication. 

The  hundreds  of  stories  turned  out  in  what  soon  became 
a  mechanical  fashion  were  of  two  patterns:  the  one  of  the 
good  child,  a  constant  attendant  upon  Sabbath  School  and 
Divine  Worship,  but  who  died  young  after  converting  par- 
ent or  worldly  friend  during  a  painful  illness;  the  other  of 
the  unregenerate  youth,  who  turned  away  from  the  godly 
admonition  of  mother  and  clergyman,  refused  to  attend  Sun- 

[   202   ] 


J 


American  Nursery 

day-school,  and  consequently  fell  into  evil  ways  leading  to 
the  thief's  or  drunkard's  grave.  Often  a  sick  mother  was 
introduced  to  claim  emotional  attention,  or  to  use  as  a  lay 
figure  upon  which  to  drape  Scripture  texts  as  fearful  warnings 
to  the  black  sheep  of  the  family.  Indeed,  the  little  reader  no 
sooner  began  to  enjoy  the  tale  of  some  sweet  and  gentle  girl, 
or  to  delight  in  the  mischievous  boy,  than  he  was  called  upon 
to  refled  that  early  piety  portended  an  early  death,  and 
youthful  pranks  led  to  a  miserable  old  age.  Neither  prosped 
offered  much  encouragement  to  hope  for  a  happy  life,  and 
from  conversations  with  those  brought  up  on  this  form  of 
religious  culture,  it  is  certain  that  if  a  child  escaped  without 
becoming  morbid  and  neurotic,  there  were  dark  and  secret 
resolves  to  risk  the  unpleasant  future  in  favor  of  a  happy 
present. 

The  stories,  too,  presented  a  somewhat  paradoxical  famil- 
iarity with  the  ways  of  a  mysterious  Providence.  This  was 
exceedingly  perplexing  to  the  thoughtful  child,  whose  que- 
ries as  to  justice  were  too  often  hushed  by  parent  or  teacher. 
In  real  life,  every  child  expeded,  even  if  he  did  not  receive, 
a  tangible  reward  for  doing  the  right  thing;  but  Providence, 
according  to  these  authors,  immediately  caused  a  good  child 
to  become  ill  unto  death.  It  is  not  a  matter  for  surprise  that 
the  healthy-minded,  vigorous  child  often  turned  in  disgust 
from  the  Sunday-school  library  to  search  for  Cooper's  tales 
of  adventure  on  his  father's  book-shelves. 

The  corred  and  approved  child's  story,  even  if  not  issued 
under  religious  auspices,  was  thoroughly  saturated  with  reli- 
gion. Whatever  may  have  been  the  pradice  of  parents  in 

[  203  ] 


Ji 


u^'u 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

regard  to  their  own  reading,  they  wished  that  of  the  nursery 
to  show  not  only  an  educational  and  moral,  but  a  religious 
tendency.  The  books  for  American  children  therefore  divided 
» themselves  into  three  classes:  the  denominational  story,  to  set 
forth  the  do6trines  of  one  church;  the  educational  tale;  and 
the  moral  narrative  of  American  life. 

The  denominational  stories  produced  by  the  several  Sun- 
day-school societies  were,  as  has  been  said,  only  a  kind  of 
scaffolding  upon  which  to  build  the  teachings  of  the  various 
churches.  But  their  sale  was  enormous,  and  a  fador  to  be 
reckoned  with  because  of  their  influence  upon  the  educa- 
tional and  moral  tales  of  their  period.  By  eighteen  hundred 
and  twenty-seven,  fifty-thousand  books  and  trads  had  been 
sent  out  by  one  Sunday-school  society  alone.*  There  are  few 
things  more  remarkable  in  the  history  of  juvenile  literature 
than  the  growth  of  the  business  of  the  American  Sunday  School 
Union.  By  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-eight  it  had  issued 
over  seven  hundred  of  these  religious  trifles,  varying  from  a 
sixteen-page  duodecimo  to  a  small  odavo  volume ;  and  most 
of  these  appear  to  have  been  written  by  Americans  trying 
their  inexperienced  pens  upon  a  form  of  literature  not  then 
recognized  as  difficult.  The  influence  of  such  a  flood  of  tiny 
books  could  hardly  have  been  other  than  morbid,  although 
occasionally  there  floated  down  the  stream  duodecimos  which 
were  grasped  by  little  readers  with  eagerness.  Such  volumes, 
one  reader  of  bygone  Sunday-school  books  tells  us,  glimmered 
from  the  dark  depths  of  death  and  prison  scenes,  and  were 
passed  along  with  whispered  recommendation  until  their  well- 

*  EleBion  Day^  P«  71-  American  Sunday  School  Union,  1828. 

[    204    ] 


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American  Nursery 

worn  covers  attraded  the  eye  of  the  teacher,  and  were  quickly- 
found  to  be  missing  from  Hbrary  shelves.  Others  were  com- 
mended in  their  stead,  such  as  described  the  city  boy  showing 
the  country  cousin  the  town  sights,  with  most  edifying  con- 
versation as  to  their  history;  or,  again,  amusement  of  a  light 
and  alluring  charader  was  presumably  to  be  found  in  the 
story  of  a  little  maid  who  sat  upon  a  footstool  at  her  mother's 
knee,  and  while  she  hemmed  the  four  sides  of  a  handkerchief, 
listened  to  the  account  of  missionary  enterprises  in  the  dark 
corners  of  the  earth. 

To  us  of  to-day  the  small  illustrations  are  perhaps  the  most 
interesting  feature,  preserving  as  they  do  children's  occupa- 
tions and  costumes.  In  one  book  we  see  quaintly  frocked  and 
pantaletted  girls  and  much  buttoned  boys  in  Sunday-school. 
In  another,  entitled  "EledionDay,"are  pidured  two  little  lads 
watching,  from  the  square  in  front  of  Independence  Hall,  the 
handing  in  of  votes  for  the  President  through  a  window  of 
the  famous  building —  a  pidure  that  emphasizes  the  change 
in  methods  of  casting  the  ballot  since  eighteen  hundred  and 
twenty-eight. 

That  engravers  were  not  always  successful  when  called 
upon  to  embellish  the  pages  of  the  Sunday-school  books,  many 
of  them  easily  prove.  That  the  designers  of  woodcuts  were 
sometimes  lacking  in  imagination  when  obliged  to  depid 
Bible  verses  can  have  no  better  example  than  the  favorite 
vignette  on  title-pages  portraying  "My  soul  doth  magnify  the 
Lord"  as  a  man  with  a  magnifying  glass  held  over  a  blank 
space.  Perhaps  equal  in  lack  of  imagination  was  the  often 
repeated  frontispiece  of  "Mercy  streaming  from  the  Cross," 

[  205  ] 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

illustrated  by  a  large  cross  with  an  effulgent  rain  beating 
upon  the  luxuriant  tresses  of  a  languishing  lady.  There  were 
many  pidures  but  little  art  in  the  old-fashioned  Sunday- 
school  library  books. 

It  was  in  Philadelphia  that  one  of  the  first,  if  not  the  first 
4  children's  library  was  incorporated  in  1 827  as  the  Apprentices' 
Library.  Eleven  years  later  this  library  contained  more  than 
I  two  thousand  books,  and  had  seven  hundred  children  as 
'  patrons.  The  catalogue  of  that  year  is  indicative  of  the  pre- 
valence of  the  Sunday-school  book.  "Adventures  of  Lot" 
precedes  the  "Affedionate  Daughter-in-Law,"  which  is  fol- 
lowed by  "Anecdotes  of  Christian  Missions"  and  "An  Alarm 
to  Unconverted  Sinners."  Turning  the  yellowed  pages,  we 
find  "Hannah  Swanton,  the  Casco  Captive,"  histories  of  Bible 
worthies,  the  "Infidel  Class,"  "Little  Deceiver  Reclaimed," 
"  Letters  to  Little  Children,"  "Juvenile  Piety,"  and  " Julianna 
Oakley."  The  bookish  child  of  this  decade  could  not  escape 
from  the  "Reformed  Family"  and  the  consumptive  little 
Christian,  except  by  taking  refuge  in  the  parents'  novels, 
colledions  of  the  British  poets  and  essayists,  and  the  con- 
stantly increasing  American  writings  for  adults.  Perhaps  in 
this  way  the  Sunday-school  books  may  be  counted  among  that 
long  list  of  such  things  as  are  commonly  called  blessings  in 
disguise. 

Aside  from  the  stridly  religious  tale,  the  contents  of  the  now 
considerable  output  of  Harper  and  Brothers,  Mahlon  Day, 
Samuel  Wood  and  Sons  of  New  York;  Cottons  and  Barn- 
ard, Lincoln  and  Edmunds,  Lilly,  Wait  and  Company,  Mun- 
roe  and  Francis  of  Boston;  Matthew  Carey,  Conrad  and  Par- 

[  206  ] 


ji  Child  and  her  Doll 


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American  Nursery 

sons,  Morgan  and  Sons,  and  Thomas  T.  Ashe  of  Philadel- 
phia— to  mention  but  a  few  of  the  publishers  of  juvenile 
novelties — are  convincing  proof  that  booksellers  catered  to 
the  demand  for  stories  with  a  strong  religious  bias.  The  "New 
York  Weekly,"  indeed,  called  attention  to  Day's  books  as 
"maintaining  an  unbroken  tendency  to  virtue  and  piety." 

When  not  impossibly  pious,  these  children  of  anonymous 
fidion  were  either  insufferable  prigs  with  a  steel  moral  code, 
or  so  ill-bred  as  to  be  equally  impossible  and  unnatural.  The 
favorite  plan  of  their  creators  was  to  follow  Miss  Edge  worth's 
device  of  contrasting  the  good  and  naughty  infant.  The  chil- 
dren, too,  were  often  cousins:  one,  for  example,  was  the  son 
of  a  gentleman  who  in  his  choice  of  a  wife  was  influenced  by 
strid  religious  principles;  the  other  boy  inherited  his  dispo- 
sition from  his  mother,  a  lady  of  bland  manners  and  fine  ex- 
ternal appearance,  but  who  failed  to  establish  in  her  offspring 
"corred  principles  of  virtue,  religion,  and  morality."  The 
author  paused  at  this  point  in  the  narrative  to  discuss  the 
frailties  of  the  lady,  before  resuming  its  slender  thread.  Who 
to-day  could  wade  through  with  children  the  good-goody 
books  of  that  generation? 

Happily,  many  of  the  writers  for  little  ones  chose  to  be 
unknown,  for  it  would  be  ungenerous  to  disparage  by  name 
these  ladies  who  considered  their  produdions  edifying,  and 
in  their  ingenuousness  never  dreamed  that  their  stories  were 
devoid  of  every  quality  that  makes  a  child's  book  of  value 
to  the  child.  They  were  literally  unconscious  that  their  tales 
lacked  that  simplicity  and  diredness  in  style,  and  they  them- 
selves that  knowledge  of  human  nature,  absolutely  necessary 

[  207  ] 


\J 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

to  constru6i:  a  pleasing  and  profitable  story.  The  watchwords 
of  these  painstaking  ladies  were  "religion,  virtue,  and  moral- 
ity," and  heedless  of  everything  else,  they  found  oblivion  in 
most  cases  before  they  gained  recognition  from  the  public 
they  longed  to  influence. 

The  decade  following  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty  brought 
prominently  to  the  foreground  six  American  authors  among 
the  many  who  occasioned  brief  notice.  Of  these  writers  two 
were  men  and  four  were  women.  Jacob  Abbott  and  Samuel 
G.  Goodrich  wrote  the  educational  tales,  Abbott  largely  for 
the  nursery,  while  Goodrich  devoted  his  attention  mainly 
to  books  for  the  little  lads  at  school.  The  four  women,  Mrs. 
Sarah  J.  Hale,  Miss  Eliza  Leslie,  Miss  Catharine  Sedgwick, 
and  Mrs.  Lydia  H.  Sigourney,  wrote  mainly  for  girls,  and 
took  American  life  as  their  subjed.  Mrs.  Hale  wrote  much 
for  adults,  but  when  editor  of  the  "Juvenile  Miscellany,"  she 
made  various  contributions  to  it.  Yet  to-day  we  know  her 
only  by  one  of  her  "  Poems  for  Children,"  published  in  Boston 
in  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty — "Mary  had  a  Little  Lamb." 

Mary's  lamb  has  travelled  much  farther  than  to  school,  and 
has  even  reached  that  point  when  its  authorship  has  been 
disputed.  Quite  recently  in  the  "  Century  Magazine  "  Mrs. 
Hale's  claim  to  its  composition  has  been  set  forth  at  some 
length  by  Mr.  Richard  W.  Hale,  who  shows  clearly  her  de- 
sire when  more  than  ninety  years  of  age  to  be  recognized 
as  the  originator  of  these  verses.  In  fad,  "shortly  before  her 
death,"  wrote  Mr.  Hale,  "she  direded  her  son  to  write  em- 
phatically that  every  poem  in  her  book  of  eighteen  hundred 
and  thirty  was  of  her  own  composition."  Although  rarely 

[    208   ] 


American  Nursery 

seen  in  print,  "Mary  had  a  Little  Lamb"  has  outlived  all  other 
nursery  rhymes  of  its  day;  perhaps  because  it  had  most  truly 
the  quality,  unusual  at  the  time,  of  being  told  diredly  and 
simply — a  quality,  indeed,  that  appeals  to  every  generation. 

Miss  Leslie,  like  Mrs.  Hale,  did  much  editing,  beginning 
on  adult  gift-books  and  colledions  of  housewife's  receipts, 
and  then  giving  most  of  her  attention  to  juvenile  literature. 
As  editor  Miss  Leslie  did  good  work  on  the  "Violet"  and 
the  "  Pearl,"  both  gift-books  for  children.  She  also  abridged, 
edited,  and  rewrote  "  The  Wonderful  Traveller,"  and  the 
adventures  of  Munchausen,  Gulliver,  and  Sindbad,  heroes 
often  disregarded  by  this  period  of  lack  of  imagination  and 
over-supply  of  educational  theories.  Also,  as  a  writer  of  sto- 
ries for  little  girls  and  school-maidens,  Eliza  Leslie  met  with 
warm  approval  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic. 

Undoubtedly  the  success  of  EHza  Leslie's  "American  Girls' 
Book,"  modelled  after  the  English  "Boy's  Own  Book,"  and 
published  in  1831,  added  to  the  popularity  attained  by  her 
earlier  work,  although  of  this  she  was  but  the  compiler. 

The  "American  Girls'  Book  "  was  intended  for  little  girls, 
and  by  dialogue,  the  prevailing  mode  of  conveying  instruc- 
tion or  amusement,  numerous  games  and  plays  were  described. 
Already  many  of  the  pastimes  have  gone  out  of  fashion.  "Lady 
Queen  Anne  "  and  "Robin 's  Alive,"  "a  dangerous  game  with 
a  lighted  stick," are  altogether  unknown;  "Track  the  Rabbit" 
has  changed  its  name  to  "Fox  and  Geese;"  "Hot Buttered 
Beans"  has  found  a  substitute  in  "Hunt  the  Thimble;"  and 
"  Stir  the  Mush  "  has  given  place  to  "Going  to  Jerusalem." 

But  Miss  Leslie  did  more  than  preserve  for  us  these  old- 

[  209  ] 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

fashioned  games.  She  has  left  sketches  of  children's  ways  and 
nature  in  her  various  stories  for  little  people.  She  shared,  of 
course,  in  the  habit  of  moralizing  charaderistic  of  her  day, 
but  her  children  are  childish,  and  her  heroines  are  full  of  the 
whims,  and  have  truly  the  pleasures  and  natural  emotions, 
of  real  children. 

Miss  Leslie  began  her  work  for  children  in  eighteen  hundred 
and  twenty-seven,  when  "Atlantic  Stories"  were  published, 
and  as  her  sketches  of  child-life  appeared  one  after  another, 
her  pen  grew  more  sure  in  its  delineation  of  charaders  and  her 
talent  was  speedily  recognized.  Even  now  "  Birthday  Stories  " 
are  worth  reading  and  treasuring  because  of  the  pidures 
of  family  life  eighty  years  ago.  The  "  Souvenir,"  for  exam- 
ple, is  a  Christmas  tale  of  old  Philadelphia;  the  "Cadet's 
Sister"  sketches  life  at  West  Point,  where  the  author's  brother 
had  been  a  student;  while  the  "Launch  of  the  Frigate"  and 
"Anthony  and  Clara"  tell  of  customs  and  amusements  quite 
passed  away.  The  charming  description  of  children  shopping 
for  their  simple  Christmas  gifts,  the  narrative  of  the  boys  who 
paid  a  poor  lad  in  a  bookstore  to  ornament  their  "writing- 
pieces"  for  more  "respedable  presents"  to  parents,  the  quiet 
celebration  of  the  day  itself,  can  ill  be  spared  from  the  his- 
tory of  child  life  and  diversions  in  America.  It  is  well  to  be 
reminded,  in  these  days  of  complex  and  expensive  amuse- 
ments, of  some  of  the  saner  and  simpler  pleasures  enjoyed 
by  children  in  Miss  Leslie's  lifetime. 

All  of  this  writer's  books,  moreover,  have  some  real  inter- 
est, whether  it  be  "  Althea  Vernon,"  with  the  description  of 
summer  life  and  fashions  at  Far  Rockaway  (New  York's  Man- 

[   210  ] 


American  Nursery 

hattan  Beach  of  1830),  or  "Henrietta  Harrison,"  with  its  sar- 
-castic  reference  to  the  fashionable  school  where  the  pupils 
could  sing  French  songs  and  Italian  operas,  but  could  not  be 
sure  of  the  notes  of  "  Hail  Columbia."  Or  again,  the  account 
is  worth  reading  of  the  heroine's  trip  to  New  York  from  Phila- 
delphia. "Simply  habited  in  a  plaid  silk  frock  and  Thibet 
shawl,"  little  Henrietta  starts,  under  her  uncle's  protedion,  at 
five  o'clock  in  the  morning  to  take  the  boat  for  Bordentown, 
New  Jersey.  There  she  has  her  first  experience  of  a  railway 
train,  and  looks  out  of  the  window  "at  all  the  velocity  of  the 
train  will  allow  her  to  see."  At  Heightstown  small  children 
meet  the  train  with  fruit  and  cakes  to  sell  to  hungry  travel- 
lers. And  finally  comes  the  wonderful  voyage  from  Amboy  to 
the  Battery  in  New  York,  which  is  not  reached  until  night 
has  fallen. 

This  is  the  simple  explanation  as  to  why  Eliza  Leslie's 
books  met  with  so  generous  a  reception:  they  were  full  of  the 
incidents  which  children  love,  and  unusually  free  from  the 
afFedations  of  the  pious  fiditious  heroine. 

The  stories  of  Miss  Catharine  Sedgwick  also  received  most 
favorable  criticism,  and  in  point  of  style  were  certainly  better 
than  Miss  Leslie's.  Her  reputation  as  a  literary  woman  was 
more  than  national,  and  "Redwood,"  one  of  her  best  novels, 
was  attributed  in  France  to  Fenimore  Cooper,  when  it  ap- 
peared anonymously  in  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-four. 
Miss  Sedgwick's  novels,  however,  pass  out  of  nursery  com- 
prehension in  the  first  chapters,  although  these  were  full  of  a 
healthy  New  England  atmosphere,  with  coasting  parties  and 
picnics,  Indians  and  gypsies,  nowhere  else  better  described. 

[211  ] 


^"^  Forgotten  Books  of  the 


The  same  tone  pervades  her  contributions  to  the  "Juvenile 
Miscellany,"  the  "Token,"  and  the  "Youth's  Keepsake,"  to- 
gether with  her  best-known  children's  books,  "Stories  for 
Children,"  "A  Well  Spent  Hour,"  and  "A  Love  Token  for 
Children." 

In  contrast  to  Mrs.  Sherwood's  still  popular  "Fairchild 
Family,"  Catharine  Sedgwick's  stories  breathe  a  sunny,  in- 
vigorating atmosphere,  abounding  in  local  incidents,  and 
vigorous  in  delineation  of  types  then  plentiful  in  New  Eng- 
land. "  She  has  fallen,"  wrote  one  admirer,  most  truthfully,  in 
the  "North  American  Review"  of  1827, — "she  has  fallen 
upon  the  view,  from  which  the  treasures  of  our  future  liter- 
ature are  to  be  wrought.  A  literature  to  have  real  freshness 
must  be  moulded  by  the  influences  of  the  society  where  it 
had  its  origin.  Letters  thrive,  when  they  are  at  home  in  the 
soil.  Miss  Sedgwick's  imaginations  have  such  vigor  and  bloom 
because  they  are  not  exotics."  Another  reviewer,  aroused  by 
English  criticism  of  the  social  life  in  America,  and  full  of 
the  much  vaunted  theory  that  "all  men  are  equal,"  rejoiced 
in  the  author's  attitude  towards  the  so-called  "help"  in  New 
England  families  in  contrast  to  Miss  More's  portrayal  of  the 
I  English  child's  condescension  towards  inferiors,  which  he 
thought  unsuitable  to  set  before  the  children  in  America. 
All  Miss  Sedgwick's  stories  were  the  produd  of  her  own 
I  Ikeen  intelligence  and  observation,  and  not  written  in  imita- 
\  kion  of  Miss  More,  Miss  Edgeworth,  or  Mrs.  Sherwood,  as 
were  the  anonymous  tales  of  "Little  Lucy;  or,  the  Pleasant 
Day,"  or  "  Little  Helen;  a  Day  in  the  Life  of  a  Naughty  Girl." 
They  preached,  indeed,  at  length,  but  the  preaching  could 

[  212  ] 


American  Nursery 

be  skipped  by  interested  readers,  and  unlike  the  work  of  many 
contemporaries,  there  was  always  a  thread  to  take  up. 

Mrs.  Lydia  H.  Sigourney,  another  favorite  contributor  to 
magazines,  colleded  her  "Poetry  for  Children"  into  a  volume 
bearing  this  title,  in  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-four,  and 
published  "  Tales  and  Essays  "  in  the  same  year.  These  were 
followed  two  years  later  by  "Olive  Buds,"  and  thereafter 
at  intervals  she  brought  out  several  other  books,  none  of 
which  have  now  any  interest  except  as  examples  of  juvenile 
literature  that  had  once  a  decided  vogue  and  could  safely 
be  bought  for  the  Sunday-school  library. 

The  names  of  Mrs.  Anna  M.  Wells,  Mrs.  Frances  S.  Os- 
good, Mrs.  Farrar,  Mrs.  Eliza  L.  Follen,  and  Mrs.  Seba 
Smith  were  all  well  beloved  by  children  eighty  years  ago, 
and  their  writings,  if  long  since  lost  sight  of,  at  least  added 
their  quota  to  the  children's  publications  which  were  dis- 
tindly  American. 

If  the  quantity  of  books  sold  is  any  indication  of  the  popu- 
larity of  an  author's  work,  nothing  produced  by  any  of  these 
ladies  is  to  be  compared  with  the  "Tales  of  Peter  Parley" 
and  the  "Rollo  Books"  of  Jacob  Abbott.  ' 

The  tendency  to  instrud  while  endeavoring  to  entertain 
was  remodelled  by  these  men,  who  in  after  years  had  a  host 
of  imitators.  Great  visions  of  good  to  children  had  overtaken 
dreams  of  making  children  good,  with  the  result  that  Wil- 
liam Barton's  conversational  method  of  instrudion  was  com- 
pounded with  Miss  Edgeworth's  educational  theories  and 
elaborated  after  the  manner  of  Hannah  More.  Samuel  Good- 
rich, at  least,  confessed  that  his  many  tales  were  the  dired 

[  213  ] 


^I 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

result  of  a  conversation  with  Miss  More,  whom,  because  of 
his  admiration  for  her  books,  he  made  an  effort  to  meet  when 
in  England  in  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-three.  While  talk- 
ing with  the  old  lady  about  her  "  Shepherd  of  Salisbury  Plain," 
the  idea  came  to  Mr.  Goodrich  that  he,  himself,  might  write 
for  American  children  and  make  good  use  of  her  method  of 
introducing  much  detail  in  description.  As  a  child  he  had  not 
found  the  few  toy-books  within  his  reach  either  amusing 
or  interesting,  with  the  exception  of  this  Englishwoman's 
writings.  He  resolved  that  the  growing  generation  should 
be  better  served,  but  little  dreamed  of  the  unprecedented  suc- 
cess, as  far  as  popularity  was  concerned,  that  the  result  of  his 
determination  would  prove. 

After  his  return  to  America,  the  immediate  favorable  re- 
ception of  the  "  Token,"  under  Goodrich's  diredion,  led  to 
the  publication  in  the  same  year  (1828)  of  "Peter  Parley's 
Tales  about  America,"  followed  by  "Tales  about  Europe." 
At  this  date  of  retrospedion  the  first  volume  seems  in  many 
ways  the  best  of  any  of  the  numerous  books  by  the  same 
author.  The  boy  hero,  taken  as  a  child  companion  upon  a 
journey  through  several  states,  met  with  adventures  among 
Indians  upon  the  frontiers,  and  saw  places  of  historical  sig- 
nificance. Every  incident  is  told  in  imitation  of  Miss  More, 
with  that  detailed  description  which  Goodrich  had  found 
so  fascinating.  If  a  little  overdone  in  this  resped,  the  narra- 
tive has  certainly  a  freshness  sadly  deficient  in  many  later 
volumes.  Even  the  second  tale  seems  to  lack  the  engaging 
spontaneity  of  the  first,  and  already  to  grow  didadic  and  re- 
citative rather  than  personal.  But  both  met  with  an  equally 

[214] 


American  Nursery 

generous  and  appreciative  reception.  Parley's  educational 
tales  were  undoubtedly  the  American  pioneers  in  what  may 
be  readily  styled  the  "travelogue  "  manner  used  in  later  years 
by  Elbridge  Brooks  and  many  other  writers  for  little  people. 
These  early  attempts  of  Parley's  to  educate  the  young  reader 
were  followed  by  one  hundred  others,  which  sold  like  hot 
cakes.  Of  some  tales  the  sales  reached  a  total  of  fifty  thousand 
in  one  year,  while  it  is  estimated  that  seven  million  of  Peter 
Parley's  "Histories"  and  "Tales"  were  sold  before  the  admi- 
ration of  their  style  and  qualities  waned. 

Peter  Parley  took  his  heroes  far  afield.  Jacob  Abbott  adopted 
another  plan  of  instrudion  in  the  majority  of  his  books.  Be- 
ginning in  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-four  with  the  "Young 
Christian  Series,"  the  Reverend  Mr.  Abbott  soon  had  readers 
in  England,  Scotland,  Germany,  France,  Holland,  and  India, 
where  many  of  his  volumes  were  translated  and  republished. 
In  the  "Rollo  Books"  and  "Franconia"  an  attempt  was  made 
to  answer  many  of  the  questions  that  children  of  each  century 
pour  out  to  astonish  and  confound  their  elders.  The  child  reader 
saw  nothing  incongruous  in  the  remarkable  wisdom  and  ma- 
turity of  Mary  Bell  and  Beechnut,  who  could  give  advice  and 
information  with  equal  glibness.  The  advice,  moreover,  was 
often  worth  following,  and  the  knowledge  occasionally  worth 
having;  and  the  little  one  swallowed  chunks  of  morals  and 
morsels  of  learning  without  realizing  that  he  was  doing  so. 
Most  of  both  was  speedily  forgotten,  but  many  adults  in  after 
years  were  unconsciously  indebted  to  Goodrich  and  Abbott 
for  some  familiarity  with  foreign  countries,  some  interest  in 
natural  science. 

[215] 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

Notwithstanding  the  immense  demand  for  American  stories, 
there  was  fortunately  still  some  doubt  as  to  whether  this  re- 
modelled form  of  instrudive  amusement  and  moral  story- 
book literature  did  not  lack  certain  wholesome  features  char- 
acteristic of  the  days  when  fairies  and  folklore,  and  Newbery's 
gilt  volumes,  had  plenty  of  room  on  the  nursery  table.  "  I  can- 
not very  well  tell,"  wrote  the  editor  of  the  "Fairy  Book"* 
in  1836, — "I  cannot  very  well  tell  why  it  is  that  the  good 
old  histories  and  tales,  which  used  to  be  given  to  young 
people  for  their  amusement  and  instruction,  as  soon  as  they 
could  read,  have  of  late  years  gone  quite  out  of  fashion  in  this 
country.  Informer  days  there  was  a  worthy  English  bookseller, 
one  Mr.  Newbery,  who  used  to  print  thousands  of  nice  little 
volumes  of  such  stories,  which,  as  he  solemnly  declared  in 
print  in  the  books  themselves,  he  gave  away  to  all  little  boys 
and  girls,  charging  them  only  a  sixpenny  for  the  gold  covers. 
These  of  course  no  one  could  be  so  unreasonable  as  to  wish 
him  to  furnish  at  his  own  expense.  .  .  .  Yet  in  the  last  gen- 
eration, American  boys  and  girls  (the  fathers  and  mothers, 
grandfathers  and  grandmothers  of  the  present  generation) 
were  not  wholly  dependent  upon  Mr.  Newbery  of  St.  Paul's 
church-yard,  though  they  knew  him  well  and  loved  him  much. 
The  great  Benjamin  Franklin,  when  a  printer  in  Philadelphia, 
did  not  disdain  to  print  divers  of  Newbery's  books  adorned 
with  cuts  in  the  likeness  of  his,  though  it  must  be  confessed 
somewhat  inferior,  f  Yet  rude  as  they  were,  they  were  prob- 
ably the  first  things  in  the  way  of  pidures  that  West  and 

*  Mr.  G.  C.  Verplanck  was  probably  the  editor  of  this  book,  published  by  Harper  &  Bros, 
f  This  statement  the  writer  has  been  unable  to  verify, 

[216] 


American  Nursery 

Copley  ever  beheld,  and  so  instilled  into  those  future  painters, 
the  rudiments  of  that  art  by  which  they  afterwards  became 
so  eminent  themselves,  and  conferred  such  honour  upon  their 
native  country.  In  somewhat  later  time  there  were  the  worthy 
Hugh  Gaine,  at  the  Sign  of  the  Bible  and  Crown  in  Pearl 
street,  and  the  patriotic  Samuel  Loudon,  and  the  genuine 
and  unadulterated  New  Yorker,  Evert  Duyckinck,  besides 
others  in  Boston  and  Philadelphia,  who  trod  in  the  steps  of 
Newbery,  and  supplied  the  infant  mind  with  its  first  and 
sweetest  literary  food.  The  munificent  Newbery,  and  the  pious 
and  loyal  Hugh  Gaine,  and  the  patriotic  Samuel  Loudon  are 
departed.  Banks  now  abound  and  brokers  swarm  where  Lou- 
don erst  printed,  and  many  millions  worth  of  silk  and  woolen 
goods  are  every  year  sold  where  Gaine  vended  his  big  Bibles 
and  his  little  story-books.  They  are  all  gone;  the  glittering 
covers  and  their  more  brilliant  contents,  the  tales  of  wonder 
and  enchantment,  the  father's  best  reward  for  merit,  the  good 
grandmother's  most  prized  presents.  They  are  gone — the 
cheap  delight  of  childhood,  the  unbought  grace  of  boyhood, 
the  dearest,  freshest,  and  most  unfading  recolledions  of  ma- 
turer  life.  They  are  gone — and  in  their  stead  has  succeeded 
a  swarm  of  geological  catechisms,  entomological  primers,  and 
tales  of  political  economy — dismal  trash,  all  of  them;  some- 
thing half-way  between  stupid  story-books  and  bad  school- 
books;  being  so  ingeniously  written  as  to  be  unfit  for  any 
useful  purpose  in  school  and  too  dull  for  any  entertainment 
out  of  it." 

This  is  pradically  Charles  Lamb's  lament  of  some  thirty 
years  before.  Lamb  had  despised  the  learned  Charles,  Mrs. 

[  ^^7  ] 


\ji 


'/ 1/ 


A 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

Barbauld's  peg  upon  which  to  hang  instrudion,  and  now  an 
American  Shakespeare  lover  found  the  use  of  toy-books  as 
mechanical  guides  to  knowledge  for  nursery  inmates  equally 
deplorable. 

Yet  an  age  so  in  love  with  the  acquirement  of  solid  fads 
as  to  produce  a  Parley  and  an  Abbott  was  the  period  when 
the  most  famous  of  all  nursery  books  was  brought  out 
from  the  dark  corner  into  which  it  had  been  swept  by  the 
theories  of  two  generations,  and  presented  once  again  as 
"The  Only  True  Mother  Goose  Melodies." 

The  origin  of  Mother  Goose  as  the  proteding  genius  of 
the  various  familiar  jingles  has  been  an  interesting  field  of 
speculation  and  research.  The  claim  for  Boston  as  the  birth- 
place of  their  sponsor  has  long  ago  been  proved  a  poor  one, 
and  now  seems  likely  to  have  been  an  ingenious  form  of  ad- 
vertisement. But  Boston  undoubtedly  did  once  again  make 
popular,  at  least  in  America,  the  lullabies  and  rhymes  re- 
peated for  centuries  around  French  or  English  firesides. 

The  history  of  Mother  Goose  and  her  brood  is  a  long  one. 
"Mother  Goose,"  writes  Mr.  Walter  T.  Field,  "began  her 
existence  as  the  raconteuse  of  fairy  tales,  not  as  the  nursery 
poetess.  As  La  Mere  Oye  she  told  stories  to  French  children 
more  than  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago."  According  to  the 
researches  made  by  Mr.  Field  in  the  literature  of  Mother 
Goose,  "the  earliest  date  at  which  Mother  Goose  appears  as 
the  author  of  children's  stories  is  1667,  when  Charles  Perrault, 
a  distinguished  French  litterateur,  published  in  Paris  a  little 
book  of  tales  which  he  had  during  that  and  the  preceding 
year  contributed  to  a  magazine  known  as  'Moejen's  Recueil,' 

[  218  ] 


y^ 


American  Nursery 

printed  at  The  Hague.  This  book  is  entitled  'Histoires  ou 
Contes  du  Terns  Passe,  avec  des  Moralitez/  and  has  a  fron- 
tispiece in  which  an  old  woman  is  pidured,  telling  stories  to 
a  family  group  by  the  fireside  while  in  the  background  are  the 
words  in  large  charaders,  'Contes  de  ma  Mere  TOye.'" 

It  seems,  however,  to  have  been  John  Newbery's  publish- 
ing-house that  made  Mother  Goose  sponsor  for  the  ditties  in 
much  the  form  in  which  we  now  have  them.  In  Newbery's 
collection  of  "Melodies"  there  were  numerous  footnotes 
burlesquing  Dr.  Johnson  and  his  didionary,  together  with 
jests  upon  the  moralizing  habit  prevalent  among  authors. 
There  is  evidence  that  Goldsmith  wrote  many  of  these  notes 
when  doing  hack-work  for  the  famous  publisher  in  St.  Paul's 
Churchyard.  It  is  known,  for  instance,  that  in  January, 
1760,  Goldsmith  celebrated  the  produdion  of  his  "Good 
Natur'd  Man"  by  dining  his  friends  at  an  inn.  During  the 
feast  he  sang  his  favorite  song,  said  to  be 

"There  was  an  old  woman  tos't  up  in  a  blanket, 
Seventy  times  as  high  as  the  moon." 

This  was  introduced  quite  irrelevantly  in  the  preface  to 
"Mother  Goose's  Melodies,"  but  with  the  apology  that  it 
was  a  favorite  with  the  editor.  There  is  also  the  often  quoted 
remark  of  Miss  Hawkins  as  confirming  Goldsmith's  editor- 
ship :  "  I  little  thought  what  I  should  have  to  boast,  when 
Goldsmith  taught  me  to  play  Jack  and  Jill,  by  two  bits  of 
paper  on  his  fingers."  But  neither  of  these  statements  seems 
to  have  more  weight  in  solving  the  mystery  of  the  editor's 
name  than  the  evidence  of  the  whimsically  satirical  notes 
themselves.  How  like  the  author  of  the  "Vicar  of  Wakefield" 

[  219  ] 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

and  the  children's  "  Fables  in  Verse  "  is  this  remark  under- 
neath: 

"'There  was  an  old  Woman  who  livM  under  a  hill, 
And  if  she  's  not  gone,  she  lives  there  still/ 

"This  is  a  self  evident  Proposition,  which  is  the  very  essence  of 
Truth.  She  lived  under  the  hill,  and  if  she  's  not  gone,  she  lives  there 
still.  Nobody  will  presume  to  contradict  this.  Croesa" 

And  is  not  this  also  a  good-natured  imitation  of  that  kind 
of  seriously  intended  information  which  Mr.  Edgeworth  in- 
serted some  thirty  years  later  in  "Harry  and  Lucy:"  "Dry, 
what  is  not  wet"?  Again  this  note  is  appended  to 

"See  Saw  Margery  Daw 
Jacky  shall  have  a  new  master:" 

"It  is  a  mean  and  scandalous  Pradise  in  Authors  to  put 
Notes  to  Things  that  deserve  no  Notice."  Who  except  Gold- 
smith was  capable  of  this  vein  of  humor? 

When  Munroe  and  Francis  in  Boston  undertook  about 
eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-four  to  republish  these  old- 
fashioned  rhymes,  in  the  pradice  of  the  current  theory  that 
everything  must  be  simplified,  they  omitted  all  these  notes 
and  changed  many  of  the  "Melodies."  Sir  Walter  Scott's 
"Donnel  Dhu"  was  included,  and  the  beautiful  Shakespeare 
seledions,  "When  Daffodils  begin  to  'pear,"  "When  the  Bee 
sucks,"  etc.,  were  omitted.  Doubtless  the  American  editors 
thought  that  they  had  vastly  improved  upon  the  Newbery 
publication  in  every  word  changed  and  every  line  omitted. 
In  reality,  they  deprived  the  nursery  of  much  that  might  well 
have  remained  as  it  was,  although  certain  expressions  were 
very  properly  altered.  In  a  negative  manner  they  did  one 

[    220   ] 


American  Nursery 

surprising  and  fortunate  thing:  in  leaving  out  the  amusing 
notes  they  did  not  attempt  to  replace  them,  and  consequently 
the  nursery  had  one  book  free  from  that  advice  and  precept, 
which  in  other  verse  for  children  resulted  in  persistent  nag- 
ging. The  illustrations  were  entirely  re  drawn,  and  Abel  Bowen 
and  Nathaniel  Dearborn  were  asked  to  do  the  engraving  for 
this  Americanized  edition. 

Of  the  poetry  written  in  America  for  children  before  eight- 
een hundred  and  forty  there  is  little  that  need  be  said.  Much 
of  it  was  entirely  religious  in  charaderand  most  of  it  was  color- 
less and  dreary  stuff.  The  "Child's  Gem"  of  eighteen  hundred 
and  thirty-eight,  considered  a  treasury  of  precious  verse  by  one 
reviewer,  and  issued  in  embossed  morocco  binding,  was  char- 
aderistic  of  many  contemporary  petns^  in  which  nature  was 
forced  to  exude  precepts  of  virtue  and  industry.  The  following 
stanzas  are  no  exception  to  the  general  tone  of  the  contents  of 
pradically  every  book  entitled  "Poetry  for  Children:" 

"'Be  good,  little  Edmund/  your  mother  will  say, 
She  will  whisper  it  soft  in  your  ear. 
And  often  repeat  it,  by  night  and  by  day 
That  you  may  not  forget  it,  my  dear. 

"  And  the  ant  at  its  work,  and  the  flower-loving  bee 
And  the  sweet  little  bird  in  the  wood 
As  it  warbles  its  song,  from  its  nest  in  the  tree. 
Seems  to  say, '  little  Eddy  be  good.' " 

The  change  in  the  charader  of  the  children's  books  written 
by  Americans  had  begun  to  be  seriously  noticed  in  England. 
Although  there  were  still  many  importations  (such  as  the  series 
written  by  Mrs.  Sherwood),  there  was  some  inclination  to  re- 

[   221    ] 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

sent  the  stocking  of  American  booksellers'  shelves  by  the  work 
of  local  talent,  much  to  the  detriment  of  English  publishers' 
pockets.  The  literary  critics  took  up  the  subjed,  and  thought 
themselves  justified  in  disparaging  many  of  the  American 
books  which  found  also  ready  sale  on  English  book-counters. 
The  religious  books  underwent  scathing  criticism,  possibly 
not  undeserved,  except  that  the  English  produdions  of  the 
same  order  and  time  make  it  now  appear  that  it  was  but  the 
pot  calling  the  kettle  black.  Almost  as  much  fault  was  found 
with  the  story-books.  It  apparently  mattered  little  that  the 
tables  were  now  turned  and  British  publishers  were  pirating 
American  tales  as  freely  and  successfully  as  Thomas  and 
Philadelphia  printers  had  in  former  years  made  use  of  New- 
bery's,  and  Darton  and  Harvey's,  juvenile  novelties  in  book 
ware. 

In  the  "  Quarterly  Review"  of  1843,  ^^  ^^  article  entitled 
"Books  for  Children,"  the  writer  found  much  cause  for  com- 
plaint in  regard  to  stories  then  all  too  conspicuous  in  book- 
shops in  England.  "The  same  egregious  mistakes,"  said 
the  critic,  "as  to  the  nature  of  a  child's  understanding 
— the  same  explanations,  which  are  all  but  indelicate,  and 
always  profane — seem  to  pervade  all  these  American  men- 
tors; and  of  a  number  by  Peter  Parley,  Abbott,  Todd,  &c., 
it  matters  little  which  we  take  up."  "Under  the  name  of 
Peter  Parley,"  continued  the  disgruntled  gentleman,  after 
finding  only  malicious  evil  in  poor  Mr.  Todd's  efforts  to  ex- 
plain religious  dodrines,  "such  a  number  of  juvenile  school- 
books  are  current — some  greatly  altered  from  the  originals 
and  many  more  by  adopters  of  Mr.  Goodrich's  pseudonym 

[  222  ] 


American  Nursery 

— that  it  becomes  difficult  to  measure  the  merits  or  demerits 
of  the  said  magnus  parens^  Goodrich."  Liberal  quotations  fol- 
lowed from  "  Peter  Parley's  Farewell,"  which  was  censured  as 
palling  to  the  mind  of  those  familiar  with  the  English  sources 
from  which  the  fads  had  been  irreverently  culled. 

The  reviewer  then  passed  on  to  another  sedion  of  "Ameri- 
can abominations"  which  "seem  to  have  some  claim  to  pop- 
ularity since  they  are  easily  sold."  "These,"  continued  the 
anonymous  critic,  "are  works  not  of  amusement — those  we 
shall  touch  upon  later — but  of  that  half-and-half  description 
where  instrudion  blows  with  a  side  wind.  .  .  .  Accordingly 
after  impatient  investigation  of  an  immense  number  of  little 
tomes,  we  are  come  to  the  conclusion  that  they  may  be  briefly 
classified — firstly,  as  containing  such  information  as  any 
child  in  average  life  who  can  speak  plainly  is  likely  to  be  pos- 
sessed of;  and  secondly,  such  as  when  acquired  is  not  worth 
having." 

To  this  second  class  of  book  the  Reverend  Mr.  Abbott's 
"Rollo Books"  were  unhesitatingly  consigned. They  were  re- 
garded as  curiosities  for  "mere  occupation  of  the  eye,  and 
utter  stagnation  of  the  thoughts,  full  of  empty  minutiae  with 
all  the  rules  of  common  sense  set  aside." 

Next  the  writer  considered  the  style  of  those  Americans 
who  persuaded  shillings  from  English  pockets  by  "ingen- 
iously contrived  series  which  rendered  the  purchase  of  a  single 
volume  by  no  means  so  recommendable  as  that  of  all."  The 
"  uncouth  phraseology,  crack-jack  words,  and  puritan  de- 
rived words  are  nationalized  and  therefore  do  not  permit 
cavilling,"  continued  the  reviewer,  dismayed  and  disgusted 

[  223  ] 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

that  it  was  necessary  to  warn  his  public,  "but  their  children 
never  did,  or  perhaps  never  will,  hear  any  other  language; 
and  it  is  to  be  hoped  they  understand  it.  At  all  events,  we 
have  nothing  to  do  but  keep  ours  from  it,  believing  firmly 
that  early  familiarity  with  refined  and  beautiful  forms  ...  is 
one  of  the  greatest  safeguards  against  evil,  if  not  necessary  to 
good." 

However,  the  critic  did  not  close  his  article  without  a 
good  word  for  those  ladies  in  whose  books  we  ourselves  have 
found  merit.  "  Their  works  of  amusement "  he  considered 
admirable,  "  when  not  laden  with  more  religion  than  the  tale 
can  hold  in  solution.  Miss  Sedgwick  takes  a  high  place  for 
powers  of  description  and  traits  of  nature,  though  her  lan- 
guage is  so  studded  with  Americanisms  as  much  to  mar  the 
pleasure  and  perplex  the  mind  of  an  English  reader.  Besides 
this  lady,  Mrs.  Sigourney  and  Mrs.  Seba  Smith  may  be 
mentioned.  The  former,  especially,  to  all  other  gifts  adds  a 
refinement,  and  nationality  of  subjed,  with  a  knowledge  of 
life,  which  some  of  her  poetical  pieces  led  us  to  exped.  In- 
deed the  little  Americans  have  little  occasion  to  go  begging 
to  the  history  or  tradition  ot  other  nations  for  topics  of  in- 
terest." 

The  "Westminster  Review"  of  eighteen  hundred  and 
forty  was  also  in  doubt  "whether  all  this  Americanism  [such 
as  Parley's  'Tales'  contained]  is  desirable  for  English  chil- 
dren, were  it,"  writes  the  critic,  "only  for  them  we  keep  the 
'pure  well  of  English  undefiled,'  and  cannot  at  all  admire  the 
improvements  which  it  pleases  that  go-ahead  nation  to  claim 
the  right  of  making  in  our  common  tongue:  unwisely  enough 

[  224  ] 


American  Nursery 

as  regards  themselves,  we  think,  for  one  of  the  elements  in 
the  power  of  a  nation  is  the  wide  spread  of  its  language." 

This  same  criticism  was  made  again  and  again  about  the 
style  of  American  writers  for  adults,  so  that  it  is  little  won- 
der the  children's  books  received  no  unqualified  praise.  But 
Americanisms  were  not  the  worst  feature  of  the  "inundation 
of  American  children's  books,"  which  because  of  their  novelty 
threatened  to  swamp  the  "higher  class "  English.  They  were 
feared  because  of  the  "  multitude  of  false  notions  likely  to 
be  derived  from  them,  the  more  so  as  the  similarity  of  name 
and  language  prevents  children  from  being  on  their  guard, 
and  from  remembering  that  the  representations  that  they 
read  are  by  foreigners."  It  was  the  American  view  of  Eng- 
lish institutions  (presented  in  story-book  form)  which  rankled 
in  the  British  breast  as  a  "condescending  tenderness  of  the 
free  nation  towards  the  monarchical  regime "  from  which  at 
any  cost  the  English  child  must  be  guarded.  In  this  resped 
Peter  Parley  was  the  worst  offender,  and  was  regarded  as 
"  a  sad  purveyor  of  slip-slop,  and  no  matter  how  amusing, 
ignorant  of  his  subjed."  That  gentleman,  meanwhile,  read 
the  criticisms  and  went  on  making  "bread  and  butter,"  while 
he  scowled  at  the  English  across  the  water,  who  criticised,  but 
pirated  as  fast  as  he  published  in  America. 

Gentle  Miss  EHza  Leslie  received  altogether  different  treat- 
ment in  this  review  of  American  juvenile  literature.  She  was 
considered  "good  everywhere,  and  particularly  so  for  the 
meridian  in  which  her  tales  were  placed;"  and  we  quite  agree 
with  the  reviewer  who  considered  it  well  worth  while  to  quote 
long  paragraphs  from  her  "  Tell  Tale  "  to  show  its  charader 

[  2^5  ] 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

and  "  truly  useful  lesson."  "  To  America,"  continued  this  writer, 
"we  also  owe  a  host  of  little  books,  that  bring  together  the 
literature  of  childhood  and  the  people;  as  'Home,'  'Live  and 
Let  Live'  [by  Miss  Sedgwick],  &c.,  but  excellent  in  inten- 
tion as  they  are,  we  have  our  doubts,  as  to  the  general  recep- 
tion they  will  meet  in  this  country  while  so  much  of  more 
exciting  and  elegant  food  is  at  hand."  Even  if  the  food  of 
amusement  in  England  appeared  to  the  British  mind  more 
spiced  and  more  elegant^  neither  Miss  Leslie's  nor  Miss  Sedg- 
wick's fiditious  children  were  ever  anaemic  puppets  with- 
out wills  of  their  own, — a  type  made  familiar  by  Miss  Edge- 
worth  and  persisted  in  by  her  admirers  and  successors, — but 
vitalized  little  creatures,  who  aded  to  some  degree,  at  least, 
like  the  average  child  who  loved  their  histories  and  named 
her  dolls  after  favorite  charade rs. 

To-day  these  English  criticisms  are  only  of  value  as  show- 
ing that  the  American  story-book  was  no  longer  imitating  the 
English  tale,  but  was  developing,  by  reason  of  the  impress 
of  differing  social  forces,  a  new  type.  Its  faults  do  not  prevent 
us  from  seeing  that  the  spirit  expressed  in  this  juvenile  litera- 
ture is  that  of  a  new  nation  feeling  its  own  way,  and  making 
known  its  purpose  in  its  own  manner.  While  we  smile  at 
sedulous  endeavors  of  the  serious-minded  writers  to  present 
their  convidions,  educational,  religious,  or  moral,  in  palatable 
form,  and  to  consider  children  always  as  a  race  apart,  whose 
natural  adions  were  invariably  sinful,  we  still  read  between 
the  lines  that  these  writers  were  really  interested  in  the  welfare 
of  the  American  child;  and  that  they  were  working  according 
to  the  accepted  theories  of  the  third  decade  of  the  nineteenth 

[  226  ] 


I 


'^he  Little  Runaway 


American  Nursery 

century  as  to  the  constituents  of  a  juvenile  library  which, 
while  "judicious  and  attractive,  should  also  blend  instrudion 
with  innocent  amusement." 

And  now  as  we  have  reached  the  point  in  the  history  of 
the  American  story-book  when  it  is  popular  at  least  in  both 
English-speaking  countries,  if  not  altogether  satisfadory  to 
either,  what  can  be  said  of  the  value  of  this  juvenile  literature 
of  amusement  which  has  developed  on  the  tiny  pages  of  well- 
worn  volumes'?  If,  of  all  the  books  written  for  children  by 
Americans  seventy-five  years  and  more  ago,  only  Nathaniel 
Hawthorne's  "Wonder  Book"  has  survived  to  the  present 
generation;  of  all  the  verse  produced,  only  the  simple  rhyme, 
"Mary had  a  Little  Lamb," and  Clement  Moore's  "The Night 
before  Christmas  "  are  still  quoted,  has  their  history  any  value 
to-day? 

If  we  consider  that  there  is  nothing  more  rare  in  the  fidion 
of  any  nation  than  the  popular  child's  story  that  endures; 
nothing  more  unusual  than  the  successful  well-written  juve- 
nile tale,  we  can  perhaps  find  a  value  not  to  be  reckoned  by 
the  survival  or  literary  charader  of  these  old-fashioned  books, 
but  in  their  silent  testimony  to  the  influence  of  the  progress 
of  social  forces  at  work  even  upon  so  small  a  thing  as  a  child's 
toy-book.  The  successful  well-written  child's  book  has  been 
rare,  because  it  has  been  too  often  the  objed  rather  than  the 
manner  of  writing  that  has  been  considered  of  importance ; 
because  it  has  been  the  aim  of  all  writers  either  to  "improve 
in  goodness"  the  young  reader,  as  when,  two  hundred  years 
ago.  Cotton  Mather  penned  "Good  Lessons  "  for  his  infant  son 
to  learn  at  school,  or,  to  quote  the  editor  of  "Affedion's  Gift" 

[  227  ] 


Forgotten  Books  of  the 

(published  a  century  and  a  quarter  later),  it  has  been  for  the 
purpose  of  "imparting  moral  precepts  and  elevated  senti- 
ments, of  uniting  instrudion  and  amusement,  through  the  fas- 
cinating mediums  of  interesting  narrative  and  harmony  of 
numbers." 

The  result  of  both  intentions  has  been  a  coUedion  of  dingy 
or  faded  duodecimos  containing  a  series  of  impressions  of 
what  each  generation  thought  good,  religiously,  morally,  and 
educationally,  for  little  folk.  If  few  of  them  shed  any  light 
'  upon  child  nature  in  those  long-ago  days,  many  throw  shafts 
of  illumination  upon  the  change  and  progress  in  American 
ideals  and  thought  concerning  the  welfare  of  children.  As 
has  already  been  said,  the  press  supplied  what  the  public 
taste  demanded,  and  if  the  writers  produced  for  earlier  gen- 
erations of  children  what  may  now  be  considered  lumber,  the 
press  of  more  modern  date  has  not  progressed  so  far  in  this 
field  of  literature  as  to  make  it  in  any  degree  certain  that  our 
children's  treasures  may  not  be  consigned  to  an  equal  oblivion. 
For  these  too  are  but  composites  made  by  superimposing  the 
latest  fads  or  theories  as  to  instructive  amusement  of  chil- 
dren upon  those  of  previous  generations  of  toy-books.  Most 
of  what  was  once  considered  the  "perfume  of  youth  and 
freshness"  in  a  literary  way  has  been  discarded  as  dry  and 
unprofitable,  mistaken  or  deceptive;  and  yet,  after  all  has 
been  said  by  way  of  criticism  of  methods  and  subjeds,  these 
chap-books,  magazines,  gift  and  story  books  form  our  best 
if  blurred  pidures  of  the  amusements  and  daily  life  of  the 
old-time  American  child. 

We  are  learning  also  to  prize  these  small "  Histories  "  as  part 

[228] 


American  Nurseri/ 

of  the  progress  of  the  arts  of  book-making  and  illustration, 
and  of  the  growth  of  the  business  of  publishing  in  America; 
and  already  we  are  aware  of  the  fulfilment  of  what  was  called 
by  one  old  bookseller,  "  Tom  Thumb's  Maxim  in  Trade  and 
Politics:"  "He  who  buys  this  book  for  Two-pence,  and  lays 
it  up  till  it  is  worth  Three-pence,  may  get  an  hundred  per 
cent  by  the  bargain." 


\ 


Index 


INDEX 


Abbott,  Jacob,  20 1, 208, 213, 

215,  218,  222,  223. 
Abbott,  John  S.  C,  129. 
A,  B,  C  Book,  1 01. 
A,  B,  C  of  religion,  22. 
Absence  from  Christ  intolerable, 

39. 
Adams,  John,  165. 

Adams,  Mrs.  John,  91. 
Adams,  J.  A.,  169.  / 

Adams,  John  Quincy,  196. 
Addison,  Joseph,  159. 
Adventures  of  a  Peg-top,  109. 
Adventures   of    a    Pincushion, 

109,  III,  112. 
Adventures  of  Lot,  206. 
Aesop,  63,  66,  67,  69,  90,  loi, 

109. 
AfFedtionate  Daughter-in-Law, 

206. 
Affection's  Gift,  227. 
Aikin,  Dr.  John,  139, 140, 163. 
Ainsworth,  Robert,  63. 
Aitkin,  Robert,  100,  loi. 
Alarm  to  Unconverted  Sinners, 

An,  206. 
Althea  Vernon,  210.  [103* 

American  Antiquarian  Society, 
American  Flag,  148. 
American  Girls*  Book,  209. 
American    Juvenile    Keepsake, 

197,  200. 
American  Sunday  School  Union, 

201,  202,  204. 


American  Weekly  Mercury,  20. 
Ami  des  Enfans,  134,  135. 
Amyntor,  192. 
Anderson,  Dr.  Alexander,  166- 

169,  180. 
Andre,  Major  John,  97. 
Andrews,  Joseph,  196. 
Andrews,  Thomas,  102. 
Anecdotenvon  Hunden,  178. 
Anecdotes  of  Christian  Missions, 

206. 
Animated  Nature,  108. 
Annales  of  Madame  de  Genlis, 

134. 

Annual  Register,  163. 

Anthony  and  Clara,  210. 

Arabian  Nights,  162. 

Argalus  &  Parthenia,  90. 

Arnold,  Benedict,  97,  98. 

Arthur's   Geographical    Gram- 
mar, 99. 

Art's  Treasury,  90. 

Ashe,  Thomas  T.,  207. 

Ashton,  John,  54. 

Atlantic  Stories,  210. 

Avery,  S.,  180. 

Babcock,  Sidney,  167,  168. 
Bache,    Benjamin,    100,    loi, 

104,  105,  127. 
Bag  of  Nuts  ready  Cracked,  107. 
Bailey,  Francis,  123. 
Banbury  Chap-Books,  53,  70, 

117. 


[  233  ] 


Index 


Barbauld,  Anna  Letitia,  127- 
129,  132,  140-142,  152, 
155,163,  188,  218. 

Barclay,  Andrew,  102,  103. 

Baskerville,  John,  103. 

Battelle,  E.,  102. 

Battle  of  the  Kegs,  97. 

Be  Merry  and  Wise,  67,  106. 

Beecher,  Rev.  Dr.  Lyman,  162. 

Belcher,  J.,  170,  171. 

Bell,  Robert,  75,  76,  89,  100, 

lOI. 

Benezet,  Anthony,  10 1. 
Berquin,    Arnaud,    134,    159, 

161. 
Bewick,    Thomas,    117,    118, 

i35./t66,  168,  i>9. 
Bewick^s  Quadrupeds,  168. 
Bibliography  of  Worcester,  102. 
Big  and  Little  Puzzling  Caps, 

107. 
Biography  for  Boys,  115. 
Biography  for  Girls,  114,  115. 
Birthday  Stories,  210. 
Blossoms  of  Morality,  165. 
Blue   Beard,  The   History  of, 

141,  165. 
Body  of  Divinity  versified,  22. 
Book  for  Boys  and  Girls;  or, 

Country  Rhimes  for  Children, 

II. 
Book  for  Boys  and  Girls;  or. 

Temporal  Things  Spiritual- 
ized, 13. 
Book  of  Knowledge,  90,  103. 
Book  of  Martyrs,  10. 

c 


Books  for  Children,  222. 
Bookseller  of  the  last  century. 

The,  51,  54- 
Boone,  Daniel,  198. 
Boone,  Nicholas,  17. 
Boston  Chronicle,  74,  75. 
Boston  Evening  Post,  38,  43, 

73- 
Boston    Gazette  and   Country 

Journal,  80. 
Boston  News  Letter,  19. 
Boston  Public  Library,  74, 
Bowen,  Abel,  169,  221. 
Boy  and  his  Paper  of  Plumbs, 

12. 
Boy  and  the  Watchmaker,  12. 
Boy's  Own  Book,  209. 
Boyle,  John,  76,  77. 
Bradford,  Andrew,  20,  21,  126. 
Bradford,  Thomas,  59, 90, 100. 
Brewer,  printer,  167. 
Brooke,  Henry,  130. 
Brooks,  Elbridge,  215. 
Brother's  Gift,  80,  iii,  112. 
Browne,  Miss,  197. 
Brynberg,  Peter,  165. 
Buccaneers  of  America,  90. 
Bunyan,  John,  10-13. 
Burr,  Aaron,  132-134. 
Burr,  Theodosia,  132,  133. 
Burton,  R.,  36,  37. 
Burton's  Historical  Collections, 

36. 
Busy  Bee,  187. 

Butcher, Elizabeth,  21,40, 186. 
Butterworth,  Hezekiah,  132. 
234  ] 


Index 


Cadet's  Sister,  210. 
Cameron,  Lucy  Lyttleton,  152, 

184. 
Canary  Bird,  The,  172. 
Carey,  Matthew,  165,  206. 
Carey,  Robert,  72. 
Carnan,  Mr.,  46,  104. 
Carter,  John,  10 1. 
Catechism,  5,  6,  10,  15. 
Catechism  of  New  England,  7. 
Cautionary    Stories    in    Verse, 

175. 
Century  Magazine,  208. 
Chandler,  Samuel,  163. 
Chap-Books  of  the  Eighteenth 

Century,  54. 
Chapone,    Hester,    113,    114, 

159. 
Chapters  of  Accidents,  1 74. 
Charles,  Mary,  170. 
Charles,    William,    170,    171, 

176,  183. 
Cheap  Repository,  152. 
Cherry  Orchard,The,  156,177. 
Child,  Lydia  Maria,  193,  201. 
Child  and  his  Book,  11,  45. 
Children  in  the  Wood,  8. 
Children's  Books  and  Reading, 

132. 
Children's  Friend,  135,  161. 
Children's  Magazine, The,  1 01. 
Children's     Miscellany,     129, 

Child's  Garden  of  Verses,  Ste- 
venson's, 182. 
Child's  Gem,  221. 

[ 


Child's  Guide  to  Spelling  and 

Reading,  165. 
Child's  Instru6tor,  122,  123. 
Child's  New  Play-thing,4i,43- 

45- 
Choice  Spirits,  90. 
Christmas  Box,  64,  106. 
Cinderella,  62,  171.  [109. 

Clarissa    Harlowe,  50,   79-85, 
Clarke,  Edward,  41. 
Cock  Robin,  166. 
Colle(S^ion  of  Pretty  Poems,  67. 
Collins,  Benjamin,  47. 
Complete  Letter- Writer,  90. 
Congress,  The,  98. 
Conrad  and  Parsons,  206,  207. 
Contes  de  ma  Mere  I'Oye,  219. 
Cooper,  James  Fenimore,  148, 

191,203,  211. 
Cooper,  Rev.  Mr.,  134. 
Copley,  John  Stuart,  217. 
Cotton,  John,  6,  9,  30. 
Cottons  and  Barnard,  206. 
Country  Rhimes  for  Children, 

II,  13- 
Coverly,  Nathaniel,  166. 
Cowper,  William,  153,  175. 
Cox  and  Berry,  80. 
Cries  of  London,  80,  180. 
Cries  of  New  York,  180-182. 
Cries  of  Philadelphia,  180. 
Cross,  Wilbur  L.,  80. 
Crouch,  Nathaniel,  36. 
Cruel  Giant  Barbarico,  74. 
Crukshank,  Joseph,  100,  loi, 

165. 
235  ] 


Index 


Custis,  John  Parke,  73. 
Custis,  Martha  Parke,  73. 
Cuz's  Chorus,  III. 

Daisy,  The,  176. 

Darton,    William,    124,    174, 

182,  213. 
Darton  and  Harvey,  222, 
Day,  Mahlon,  169,  206,  207. 
Day,  Thomas,  129-132,   142, 

145,  154,  179.  188. 
Daye,  John,  7. 

Dearborn,  Nathaniel,  169,  221. 
Death    and    Burial    of   Cock 

Robin,  124. 
Death  of  Abel,  90. 
Defoe,  Daniel,  129. 
Delight  in  the  Lord  Jesus,  39. 
Description  of  Various  Objedls, 

A,  173- 
Development   of    the    English 

novel,  80. 
Dennie,  Joseph,  192.        [136. 
Dilworth,  Thomas,  38,41,121, 
Divine  Emblems,  13. 
Divine  Songs,  38. 
Doane,  Bishop  G.  W.,  196. 
Doddridge,  Philip,  152,  184. 
Dodsley,  Robert,  95. 
Don  Quixote,  161. 
Donaldson,  Arthur,  192. 
Donnel  Dhu,  220. 
Doolittle,  Amos,  169. 
Dove,  The,  134. 
Drake,  Joseph  Rodman,  148. 
Draper,  Samuel,  69. 

[ 


Draper  and  Edwards,  44. 
Drinker,  Eliza,  91,  126. 
Dryden's  Poems,  163. 
Dunlap,  John,  100. 
Dunton,  John,  8,  36. 
Durell,  publisher,  166,  167. 
Duyckinck,  Evert,  217. 

JjiARLY  Lessons,  155. 
Earnest  Exhortation,  22. 
Easy     Introduction     into     the 

knowledge  of  Nature,  128. 
Easy  Lessons  for  Children,  127, 

128,  132,  155. 
Economy  of  Human  Life,  152. 
Edgeworth,  Maria,   128,   140, 

15O7    153-1591    164,    171, 

I75-I77>    187,    188,    207, 

212,  213,  226. 
Edgeworth,     Richard     Lovell, 

154-156,  220. 
Edwards,  Joseph,  43. 
Elegant  Extrafts,  162. 
Embury,  Emma  C,  200,  201. 
Emulation,  187. 
English  Empire  in  America,  36. 
Entertaining  Fables,  109. 
Errand  Boy,  187. 
Evenings  at  Home,  128,  139, 

163,  164. 
Everett,  Alexander  H.,  196. 
Everett,  Edward,  196. 

Tables  in  verse,  53,  220. 
Fabulous  Histories,  128,  141. 
Fair  Rosamond,  24. 
236  ] 


Index 


Fairchild  Family , The,  152,186, 

212. 
Fairy  Book,  216. 
Familiar  Description  of  Beasts 

and  Birds,  174. 
Farrar,  Eliza  Ware,  213. 
Father's  Gift,  The,  iii. 
Female  Orators,  82. 
Fenelon's  Reflections,  184. 
Field,  E.  M.,  11,45. 
Field,  Walter  T.,  218.      [137. 
Fielding,  Henry,  51,  78,80,81, 
Fields,  James  T.,  196. 
First    Book  of   the    American 

Chronicles  of  the  Times,  76. 
Fleet,  Thomas,  19,  20,  24,  38. 
Fleming,  John,  74. 
Flora's  Gala,  175. 
Follen,  Eliza  L.,  213. 
Food  for  the  Mind,  67, 68, 107. 
Fool  of  Quality,  130. 
Ford,  Paul  Leicester,  14. 
Fowle,  Zechariah,  20,  40,  69, 

103. 
Fowle  and  Draper,  72. 
Fox  and  Geese,  209. 
Foxe,  John,  10. 
Franconia,  215. 
Frank,  155. 
Franklin,  Benjamin,  21-24,  26, 

36^   38,    59-62,    103,    105, 

123,  179,  i93i  216. 
Franklin,  Sally,  62,  63. 
Franklin  and  Hall,  59. 
French  Convert,  90. 
Friendly  Instru6tion,  184. 

[  237 


Cjaffer  Two  Shoes,  82. 
Gaine,  Hugh,  64,  65,  67,  68, 

89,  167,  217. 
Gallaudet,  Elisha,  196. 
Garden  Amusements,  175. 
Generous  Inconstant,  The,  82. 
Genlis,  Madame  Stephanie-Fe- 

licite  de,  132,  134. 
Geographical,    Statistical     and 

Political  Amusement,  178. 
George's  Junior  Republic,  139. 
Gilbert,  C,  169. 
Giles    Gingerbread,    74,    no, 

140,  159. 
Gilman,  Caroline,  194,  195, 
Going  to  Jerusalem,  209. 
Goldsmith,  Oliver,  51,  52,  80, 

82,95,  108,  159,  219,220. 
Good  Lessons  for  Children,  18, 

127,  227. 
Good  Natur'd  Man,  219. 
Goodrich,    Samuel     G.,    129, 

194-196,    198,    199,    201, 

208,    213-215,    218,    222- 

225. 
Goody  Two-Shoes,  52,  53,  55, 

89,  loi,  no,  116-118,  123, 

140-142,  159. 
Greeley,  Horace,  196. 
Green,  Samuel,  10,  13,  14. 
Green,  Timothy,  17. 
Gulliver's  Adventures,  125. 
Guy  of  Warwick,  8. 

Hail  Columbia,  148,  211. 
Hale,  Richard  W.,  208. 

] 


Index 


Hale,  Sarah  J.,  193,  208,  209. 

Hall,  Anna  Maria,  197,  199. 

Hall,  David,  59,  62,  100. 

Hall,  Samuel,  124,  125. 

Hall,  William,  100. 

Halleck,  Fitz-Greene,  148. 

Hannah  Swanton,  the  Casco 
Captive,  206. 

Happy  Child,  40. 

Harper  and  Brothers,  206,  216. 

Harris,  Benjamin,  14. 

Harris,  John,  182,  183. 

Harry  and  Lucy,  155,156,1 64, 
220. 

Harvey,  John,  182. 

Hawkins,  Laetitia  Matilda,  2 19. 

Hawthorne,  Julian,  78,  129, 
130. 

Hawthorne,  Nathaniel,  149, 
196,  227. 

Hebrides,  153. 

Henrietta  Harrison,  211. 

Hildeburn,  Charles  R.,  65,  93. 

Hill,  George  Birbeck,  141. 

Hill,  Hannah,  21,  186. 

Histoires  ou  Contes  du  Terns 
Passe,  219. 

Historical  Society  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, 69. 

History  of  a  Doll,  136. 

History  of  printing  in  America, 
18,  19. 

History  of  the  American  Revo- 
lution, 123. 

History  of  the  Holy  Jesus,  39, 
40,  103. 

[ 


History   of  the   Institution   of 

Cyrus,  130. 
History  of  the  Robins,  129. 
Hive,  The,  195. 
Hobby  Horse,  The,  42,  80. 
Hofland,  Barbara,  197,  198. 
Holmes,  Dr.   Oliver  Wendell, 

162-164,  184,  196,  201. 
Holy  Bible  in  Verse,  15. 
Home,  226. 

Home  of  Washington,  28. 
Hopkinson,  Joseph,  148. 
Hot  Buttered  Beans,  209. 
House  that  Jack  Built,  19. 
Howard,  Mr.,  29. 
Hudibras,  161. 
Hunt  the  Thimble,  209. 
Hymns  for  Infant  Minds,  184. 
Hymns  in  Prose  and  Verse,  128. 

"Ianthe."  See  Embury. 
Illman,  Thomas,  196. 
Infidel  Class,  206. 
Irving,  Washington,  148,  191. 

Jack  and  Jill,  219. 

Jack  the  Giant  Killer,  8,  141. 

Jacky   Dandy's   Delight,    107, 

108. 
James,  William,  175,  176. 
Jane  Grey,  24. 
Janeway,  James,  17,  186. 
Jenny  Twitchell's  Jests,  90. 
Joe  Miller's  Jests,  90. 
Johnson,  Benjamin,  164,  178, 

183,  192. 
238  ] 


Index 


Johnson,  Jacob,  152, 155,  156, 
159,  164,  173,  178,  183. 

Johnson, Dr. Samuel,  36,50-52, 
129,  140,141,153,  219. 

Johnson  and  Warner,  164, 178, 

183. 

Johnsonian  Miscellany,  141. 

Jones,  Giles,  52,53- 

Joseph  Andrews,  78,  81,90. 

Josephus,  167. 

Julianna  Oakley,  206. 

Juvenile  Biographers,  1 15, 1 16. 

Juvenile  Magazine,  179,  192. 

Juvenile  Miscellany,  193-195, 
208,  212. 

Juvenile  Olio,  192. 

Juvenile  Piety,  206. 

Juvenile  Portfolio,  192. 

Juvenile  Rambler,  195. 

Juvenile  Trials  for  Robbing  Or- 
chards, etc.,  139,  140. 

jVeeper's  Travels  in  Search  of 

his  Master,  172. 
Kellogg,  Joseph  G.,  196. 
Kendall,  Dr.,  172. 
Key,  Francis  Scott,  148. 
Kilner,  Dorothy,  109. 
King  Pippin,  55,  no,  159,  163. 
Kleine    Erzahlungen   iiber  ein 

Buch  mit  Kupfern,  178. 
Knox,  Thomas  W.,  132. 

L/ADY  Queen  Anne,  209. 
Lamb,  Charles,  141,  142,  217. 
Lansing,  G.,  169. 

[ 


Lark,  The,  90. 

Launch  of  the  Frigate,  210. 

Lee,  Richard  Henry,  28,  29. 

Legacy  to  Children,  126. 

Lenox  Collection,  180. 

Leo,  the  Great  Giant,  74. 

Leslie,  Eliza,   193,   196,  201, 
208-211,  225,  226. 

Letters  from  the  Dead  to  the 
Living,  162. 

Letters  to  Little  Children,  206. 

Liddon,  Mr.,  100. 

Life  of  David,  163. 

Lilly,  Wait  and  Company,  194, 
206. 

Lincoln  and  Edmunds,  1 84, 206. 

Linnet,  The,  90. 

Linton,   William  James,   166, 
168,  169. 

Literary  Magazine,  52. 

Literature  of  the  American  Re- 
volution, 98. 

Little  Book  for  Children,  17. 

Little  Boy  found  under  a  Hay- 
cock, 123. 

Little  Deceiver  Reclaimed,  206. 

Little  Dog  Trusty,  156. 

Little  Fanny,  176. 

Little  Helen,  212. 

Little  Henry,  170. 

Little   Henry   and   his   Bearer, 
184,  185. 

Little  Jack,  131. 

Little  Lottery  Book,  106. 

Little  Lucy,  212. 

Little  Millenium  Boy,  186. 
239  ] 


■  % 


Index 


Little  Nancy,  171,  176-178. 
Little  Pretty  Pocket-Book,  A, 

47-50,  67. 
Little  Readers'  Assistant,  121, 

122. 
Little  Robin  Red  Breast,  114. 
Little   Scholar's   Pretty  Pocket 

Companion,  122. 
Little  Sophie,  176. 
Little  Truths,  124,  125,  182. 
Little  William,  171. 
Live  and  Let  Live,  226. 
Lives  of  Highvv^aymen,  90. 
Lives  of  Pirates,  90. 
Locke,  John,  4i-43>  4^,  51. 

66,  99. 
London  Chronicle,  53. 
Longfellow,  Henry  W.,  196. 
Longworth,  David,  165,  168. 
Looking-glass,  A,  22. 
Looking  Glass  for  the  Mind, 

134,  135,  i59>  162,  166. 
Lossing,   Benson    J.,   28,    29, 

167. 
Loudon,  Samuel,  217. 
Love  Token  for  Children,  212. 

JVIacaulay,  T.  B.,  153. 

Magnalia,  162. 

Mary  had  a  Little  Lamb,  208, 

209,  227. 
Mason,  A.  J.,  169. 
Massachusetts    Sunday    School 

Union,  194. 
Master  Jacky  and  Miss  Harriot, 

135. 

[  240 


Mather,  Cotton,  6,  7,  9, 16-18, 

21,  22,  56,  127,  185,  186, 

227. 
Mather,  Elizabeth,  16. 
Mather,  Increase,  16-18. 
Mather,  Samuel,  16. 
Mein,  John,  73-75,  ^^^  89. 
Metamorphosis,  A,  169. 
Milk  for  Babes,  6,  7,  30. 
Milton,  John,  159,  175. 
Mr.  Telltruth's  Natural  History 

of  Birds,  107. 
Mitford,  Mary  Russell,  197. 
Moejen's  Recueil,  218. 
Moll  Flanders,  90. 
Moore,  Clement  Clarke,  147- 

149,  227. 
Moral  Tale,  187. 
Moral  Tales,  159. 
More,  Hannah,  134,  150-153, 

159,  188,  212-214. 
Morgan,  engraver,  169. 
Morgan  and  Sons,  170,  207. 
Morgan  and  Yeager,  170. 
Morton,  Eliza,  95. 
Moses,  Montrose  J.,  132. 
Mother  Goose  Melodies,  19,20, 

53,  114,  218-220. 
Mother's  Gift,  82,  iii,  113, 

118. 
Mother's  Remarks   over  a  Set 

of  Cuts,  A,  178. 
Munroe  and  Francis,  20,  168, 

206,  220. 
Murray,  James,  91. 
Museum,  The,  60,  61. 

] 


Index 


My  Father,  176. 

My  Governess,  176,  182. 

My  Mother,  176. 

My  Pony,  176. 

My  Sister,  182. 

Natural  History  of  Four 
Footed  Beasts,  107. 

Neagle,  John,  169. 

New  England  Courant,  21,  22. 

New  England  Primer,  6,  7,  13- 
15,  28,33,93,  121. 

New  French  Primer,  60. 

New  Gift  for  Children  with 
Cuts,  40,69-72,  103. 

New  Guide  to  the  English 
Tongue,  38. 

New  Pi6ture  of  the  City,  100. 

New  Year's  Gift,  64. 

New  York  Mercury,  67. 

New  York  Weekly,  207. 

Newbery,  Carnan,  54. 

Newbery,  Edward,  54. 

Newbery,  Francis,  46,  51,  54, 
82. 

Newbery,  John,  28,  37,40,46- 
56,  60-62,  64,  67,  70,  74, 
77,82,89,90,97,101,104, 
108,  118,  123,  124,  141, 
142,  154,  159,  182,  187, 
198,216,217,219,220,222. 

Newbery,  Ralph,  46. 

Nichols,  Dr.  Charles  L.,  102, 
103. 

Night  before  Christmas,  The, 
147,  148,  227. 

[  241 


Noel,  Garrat,  68, 148. 
North  American  Review,  212. 
Nutter,  Valentine,  89. 

Old  Mother  Hubbard,  166. 
Olive  Buds,  213. 
Orangeman,  The,  156. 
Original  Poems,  182. 
Osgood,  Frances  S.,  213. 
Oswald,  Ebenezer,  100. 

Pamela,  50,  78,  80,  81,  109. 

Parable  against  Persecution,!  23. 

Paradise  Lost,  153. 

Parent's  Assistant,  155. 

Parents'  Gift,  38. 

Parker,  James,  62. 

Parley,  Peter.  See  Goodrich, S.  G. 

Pastoral  Hymn,  74. 

Patriotic  and  Amatory  Songster, 

180. 
Peacock  at  Home,  171. 
Pearl,  The,  209. 
Pearson,  Edwin,  53,  117. 
Pease,  Joseph  I.,  196. 
Pedigree  and  Rise  of  the  Pretty 

Doll,  136-139. 
Pelton,  Oliver,  196. 
Pennsylvania  Evening  Post,  93. 
Pennsylvania  Gazette,  59,  62. 
Pennsylvania  Journal,  59. 
People  of  all  Nations,  173,  174. 
Peregrine  Pickle,  51,  109. 
Perrault,  Charles,  62,  218. 
Perry,  Michael,  26. 
Philadelphiad,  The,  100. 

] 


'"  I 


Index 


Pidure  Exhibition,  The,  io6, 

109. 
Pilgrim's  Progress,  10,  36,  95, 

126,  163,  167. 
Pilkington,  Mary,  114. 
Pinckney,  Eliza,  91. 
Play-thing,  The,  61. 
Pleasures  of  Piety  in  Youth,  1 84. 
Plutarch's  Lives,  130. 
Poems  for  Children,  208. 
Poems  for  Children  Three  Feet 

High,  64. 
Poesie  out  of  Mr.  Dod's  Gar- 
den, 38. 
Poetical   Description    of   Song 

Birds,  114. 
Poetry  for  Children,  213,  221. 
Popular  Tales,  155. 
Poupard,  James,  169. 
Power  of  Religion,  152. 
Pra6lical  Education,  128. 
Praaical  Piety,  184. 
Present  for  a  Little  Girl,  169. 
Preservative  from  the  Sins  and 

Follies  of  Childhood,  40. 
Pretty  Book  for  Children,  60, 

61,67. 
Principles  of  the  Christian  Re- 
ligion, 184. 
Pritchard,  Mr.,  100. 
Private  Tutor  for  little  Masters 

and  Misses,  67. 
Prize  for  Youthful  Obedience, 

172,  173. 
Prodigal  Daughter,  The,  24-26, 

40,  188. 

[  242 


Protestant  Tutor  for  Children, 

13^  14- 
Puritan  Primer,  13. 
Puzzling  Cap,  80,  82. 

Quarterly  Review,  222. 
Quincy,  Mrs.  Josiah,  158,  159. 

Raikes,  Robert,  151. 
Ralph,  W.,  169. 
Rand,  Rev.  Asa,  194. 
Rebels,  The,  98. 
Recolle£lions  of  a  New  England 

Housekeeper,  195. 
Redwood,  211. 
Rees's  Encyclopedia,  163. 
Reformed  Family,  206. 
Remembrance   of  Youth   is  a 

Sigh,  200. 
Rhymes  for  the  Nursery,  20, 

182. 
Rice,  Mr.,  100. 
Richardson,  Samuel,  50,  78-81, 

137- 
Rivington,  James,  65,  67,  68. 
Roberts,  Jean,  197. 
Robin  Red  Breast,  90. 
Robin's  Alive,  209. 
Robinson  Crusoe,  79,  90,  118, 

129,  130^  159- 
Roderick  Random,  51,  109. 
Roger  and  Berry,  89. 
Rollin's  Ancient  History,  161. 
Rollinson,  William,  169. 
Rollo  Books,  213,  215,  223. 
Rose,  The,  187. 

] 


Index 


Rose  Bud,  195. 

Rose's  Breakfast,  The,  175. 

Rowe,  Elizabeth,  162. 

Royal  Battledore,  60,  61. 

Royal  Primer,  61. 

Russell's  Seven  Sermons,  90. 

Sabbath  School  Times,  194. 
Sanford  and  Merton,  129,  154. 
Scotch  Rogue,  90. 
Scott,  Sir  Walter,  158,  220. 
Scott's  (Rev.  Thomas)  Family 

Bible,  163. 
Search    after   Happiness,   134, 

152. 
Sedgwick,Catharine  Maria,  152, 

160,161,193,196,208,211, 

212,  224,  226. 
Seven  Wise  Masters,  90. 
Seven  Wise  Mistresses,  90. 
Sewall,  Henry,  9. 
Sewall,  Samuel,  9,  10. 
Shakespeare,  William,  159,161. 
Sharps,  William,  29. 
Sheldon,  Lucy,  82. 
Shepherd  of  Salisbury  Plain,  152, 

214. 
Sherwood,  Mary  Martha,  152, 

184,  186,  187,  212,  221. 
Sigourney,  Lydia  H.,  193,  208, 

213,  224. 
Simple  Susan,  158. 
Sims,  Joseph,  27. 

Sir  Charles  Grandison,  79-82. 
Sister's  Gift,  80,  111-113. 
Skyrin,  Nancy,  126,  127. 

[ 


Smart,  Christopher,  54. 
Smith,  Elizabeth  Oakes,  213, 

224. 
Smollett,  Tobias,  51,  52,  78, 

79- 
Song  for  the  Red  Coats,  97. 
Songs  for  the  Nursery,  19,  20. 
Southern  Rose,  195. 
Souvenir,  210. 
Sparrow,  The,  172. 
Star  Spangled  Banner,  148. 
Stevenson,  Robert  Louis,  182. 
Stir  the  Mush,  209. 
Stone,  William  L.,  200. 
Stories  and  Tales,  90. 
Stories  for  Children,  212. 
Stowe,  Harriet  Beecher,  162, 
Strahan,  William,  61-63. 

Tale,  A:  The  Political  Bal- 
ance, 123. 

Tales  and  Essays,  213. 

Taylor,  Ann,  176,  182. 

Taylor,  Jane,  182,  184. 

Tell  Tale,  225. 

Thackerary,  W.  M.,  34. 

Thomas,  Isaiah,  18-20,  40,  69, 
74, 102-104, 106,  109,  116- 
118,  129,  168,  198,  222. 

Thompson,  John,  168. 

Thoughts  on  Education,  41, 66, 
99. 

Three  Stories  for  Children,  156. 

Todd,  John,  D.D.,  222. 

Token,  The,  196,  197,  212, 
214. 

243  ] 


Index 


Token  for  Children,  17,  186. 
Token  for  the  Children  of  New 

England,  17,  21,  186. 
Token  for  Youth,  40. 
Tom  Hick-a-Thrift,  24. 
Tom  Jones,  51,  78,  80,  109, 

no. 
Tom  the  Piper's  Son,  170. 
Tom  Thumb,  8,   19,  24,  62, 

74,  ']']^  102,  106,  114,166, 

167. 
Tommy  Trapwit,  64. 
Tommy  Trip,  52,  74, 107, 108. 
Track  the  Rabbit,  209. 
Trimmer,  Sarah,  128, 129, 141, 

142,  159. 
Trip's  Book  of  Pidtures,  64. 
Triumphs  of  Love,  90. 
Troy  (N.  Y.)  Sentinel,  147. 
Twelve  Caesars,  90. 
Twice  Told  Tales,  196, 
Two  Lambs,  152. 
Two  Shoemakers,  152. 
Tyler,  Moses  Coit,  98. 

Unterhaltungen  fiir  Deutsche 

Kinder,  178. 
Urax,  or  the  Fair  Wanderer,  74. 

Valentine  and  Orson,  90. 
Verplanck,  Gulian  C,  196,216. 
Vicar  of  Wakefield,  52,  219. 
Violet,  The,  209. 

Waddell,  J.,  62. 
Walks  of  Usefulness,  184. 

[  244 


Walters  and  Norman,  93. 

Walton's  Lives,  153. 

Warner  and  Hanna,  169. 

Washington,  George,  28,  29, 
72,  n,  93>  122,  123,  170, 
179. 

Waste  Not,  Want  Not,  156- 
158. 

Watts,  Isaac,  38,  45,  46. 

Way  to  Wealth,  179. 

Webster,  Noah,  121,  122, 136. 

Weekly  Mercury,  23,  26,  27, 
64,  65,  68. 

Weekly  Post-Boy,  62. 

Weems's  Life  of  George  Wash- 
ington, 179,  180. 

Well  Spent  Hour,  212. 

Wells,  Anna  M.,  193,  213. 

Wells,  Robert,  102. 

Welsh,  Charles,  46,  49,  51, 54, 
61,  70,  124,  142. 

West,  Benjamin,  216. 

Westminster  Review,  224. 

WestminsterShorterCatechism, 

7- 
White,  William,  D.D.,  151. 

Whitefield,  George,  151. 

Widdows,  P.,  126. 

Wilder,  Mary,  113. 

Willis,  Nathaniel  P.,  194. 

Winslow,  Anna  Green,  81-83, 

85. 

Winter    Evenings'    Entertain- 
ment, 37,  90. 
Wonder  Book,  149,  227. 
Wonderful  Traveller,  209. 

] 


Index 


Wonders  of  Nature  and  Art,  53. 
Wood,  Samuel,  165,  166,  169, 

175.  [206. 

Wood,  Samuel,  and  Sons,  167, 
Wood-engraving   in    America, 

166-169. 
Woodhouse,  William,  100. 
Worcester  Magazine,  104. 


Young,  William,  129. 
Young  Child's  ABC,  166. 
Young  Christian  Series,  215. 
Young  Gentlemen  and  Ladies' 

Magazine,  183. 
Youth's  Companion,  194. 
Youth's  Divine  Pastime,  37. 
Youth's  Keepsake,  212. 


X 


ENOPHON,  130. 


Zentler,  publisher,  178. 


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